UK wants India to join anti-terrorism body

Foreign Minister Beckett says it is important for India to become part of FATF, reports Zeeshan Shaikh.

British Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett on Tuesday said that it was important for India to become a part of the Financial Action Task Force, a body for countering terrorism finance, and added that UK was working hard to expedite India’s membership to this elite anti-terrorism body.

HT Image

"The UK has been working hard with India to expedite their membership of the Financial Action Task Force - the world’s leading body for countering terrorism finance,” the minister said after a meeting with Maharashtra Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in Mumbai on Tuesday.

The FATF is an inter-governmental body that numbers 33 countries which develops and promotes policies, both at national and international levels, to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The body was set up in 1989 by the G7 group of countries.

Meanwhile the foreign minister in the meeting which was attended by the state’s top bureaucrats and police officials including Mumbai police commissioner AN Roy, chief secretary DK Sankaran and Anti-Terrorist Squad Chief KP Raghuvanshi also stressed upon increasing cooperation and information sharing on countering terrorism.

The minister also stated that there would be increased cooperation and technology sharing between the London Metropolitan Police and the Mumbai police on the backdrop of terrorist attacks on the mass transit systems of both the cities.

On the question as to whether the Mumbai police had shared documented evidence about Pakistan’s involvement in the Mumbai blasts with the visiting delegation, the minister said, "I am not going to discuss intelligence issues."

Deshmukh welcomed the move on information sharing for tackling terrorism, but called upon the visiting UK delegation to promote Maharashtra as an investment destination for British companies.