GUWAHATI, Oct 2 - In a major breakthrough, India and China have reached an agreement on cooperation on dealing with terrorism, which will have far reaching implications on dealing with the menace in the entire South Asia. Moreover, China has also asked India to send spotters for identification of militant leaders including the Commander-in-Chief of United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent) Paresh Baruah, who are staying in China.
Highly placed sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), told The Assam Tribune that the agreement was reached when a high level team of Indian officials headed by the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), RN Ravi visited China and had detailed talks with Chinese counterparts on terrorism.
Sources said that both India and China would work out a mechanism to share �real time intelligence� on movements and activities of terrorists, which would be beneficial for both the countries. A Chinese delegation would visit India soon to work out the modalities on the proposed mechanism.
Sources revealed that the Indian delegation, in the meeting held on September 29, raised the issue of the insurgent groups of the North East using Chinese weapons and the officials of the neighbouring country assured that they would soon look into the matter. The Indian delegation also raised the issue of some leaders of the insurgent groups of North East staying in China. According to inputs available with India, Paresh Baruah is now staying in Tengchong area of Yunan province near the China-Myanmar border and from time to time, he visits Ruili. It is believed that he also meets a few persons from the Chinese intelligence agencies. This issue was also raised by the Indian delegation and the Chinese authorities assured to take action in this regard. For the first time, the Chinese officials requested India to send spotters to identify the insurgent leaders including Paresh Baruah as they claimed that they were having trouble in identifying such people.
Sources revealed that of late, China has also started feeling the pinch of terrorism and that may be one of the reasons for the country to come into an understanding with India for cooperation in dealing with terrorism. The Xinjiang province of China is considered to be an economic corridor but of late, there have been reports that terrorists trained in Pakistan are being sent to places like Syria through that area. China fears that if the trend continues, such
terrorists may create problem for China in the days to come. Moreover, there is an apprehension by the Chinese Government that if the terrorists continue to use Xinjiang province as a corridor, a time may come when China can be accused of exporting terrorism by the international community.
Sources pointed out that both India and China also get vital inputs about the activities of terrorist groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan and real time sharing of such inputs would be vital for both the countries, particularly for India.
Meanwhile, when contacted by The Assam Tribune, Ravi said that reaching an agreement with China for dealing with terrorism is a major breakthrough for India and in the days to come, it would have far reaching implications in entire South Asia. He said that the agreement would not only help India to deal with militancy in the North East region, but would also help in dealing with terror in the entire country.