Israel NSA on hush-hush visit

NEW DELHI: India’s close cooperation with Israel in dealing with terror received further impetus on Monday when Israel’s NSA Uzi Arad visited India and held talks with his counterpart M K Narayanan. Arad was accompanied by a delegation comprising experts on counter-terror measures on the visit, which was kept under wraps for obvious reasons.

Some of the ‘‘ key issues’ ’ discussed included Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, Iran and the threat to Israel nationals in India. Israel had last month withdrawn the terror alert issued for its citizens travelling to India but Arad did voice concerns for their safety in the country in the light of terror threats.

Arad, who is also the chairman of the Israeli National Security Council, spoke about the threat of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons falling into the hands of jehadi forces. In fact, Pakistan formed the core of the discussions as the two sides expressed concern about the terror groups operating out of the country. The situation emerging in the Afghanistan war was also discussed. Arad is said to have conveyed to India that one of Israel’s main concerns now was to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

The two sides also discussed weapons to be acquired by India from Israel including the need for purchasing equipment essential to ensure security at airports in the light of the recent attempt by a Nigerian national to blow up a Detroit-bound aircraft. Counter-terrorism measures and intelligence sharing were other important things discussed.

Despite getting into an extensive partnership with Israel over security and terror related issues, New Delhi has preferred to carry out discussions with Israel unobtrusively so as not to offend the minority community. Things have remained the same since the engagement between the the two countries started in the 70s when the legendary Moshe Dayan visited India. The Prime Minister’s Office in Israel, however, was said to have confirmed Arad’s visit saying that he was in India for ‘‘ a periodic discussion’’ .

The visit comes close on the heels of the India-Israel joint working group meeting last month. There has been a series of meetings in the past few months as the two sides have sought to intensify counter-terror cooperation.