Accused of fomenting terrror, Pakistan to train Nigerians in counter measures

Pakistan, which has been accused by India and many other countries of promoting terror, including the deadly 26/11 Mumbai attack that claimed 166 lives, is to train 20 Nigerian police officers in counter measures and bomb-disposal tactics.

"The training is scheduled to start from the second half of this year," Ahmad Ali Sirohey, charge d'affaires of the Pakistani High Commission in Nigerian capital Abuja, told IANS on the phone, adding this was part of an effort to help fight the growing threats of insecurity across some parts of the west African nation.

Insecurity following attacks by the Boko Haram terror group has increased over the past year and claimed several lives, mainly in the northern part of Nigeria. On Wednesday, an attack by the group claimed 47 lives at Bama in the northern Borno state.

Sirohey said the cost of the training would be jointly borne.

There have been international concerns over the terror attacks by Boko Haram and its affiliated groups because it is not only Nigerians that have been caught up in some of the incidents. Last week, the Indian High Commission in Abuja issued a security advisory to Indians visiting or already in the country.

"While wishing the Indian community in Nigeria a safe 2014, the high commission feels constrained to point out that in the recent past, Indians living in Nigeria came under unprecedented level of insecurity and were, occasionally, unfortunate victims," the advisory noted.

It listed some of the attacks that have led to the death and injury of Indian nationals. The first was in January 2012, when following multiple attacks in Kano in the north, an Indian was killed and six were injured.

This was followed by an unprovoked armed attack six months later by an unidentified group on the Indian-owned Adebar Trades and Industries Ltd. in Borno state capital Maiduguri, which led to the murder of two Indians and injury to another Indian.

Last month three Indian crew-members aboard the San Miguel were attacked by armed pirates and the vessel was hijacked while on the way from Malabo, capital of Equitorial Guinea, to Bata, around 20 km from Campo, on the border with Cameroon.

"After hijacking it, they took the vessel to Bonny Channel in Rivers state, kidnapped three Indians and left," the high commission said, adding that following its request to the local government, the three Indians were freed and sent back to India.

India has accused Pakistan of fomenting an Islamist insurgency in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir since 1989. Apart from 26/11, on which detailed dossiers have been submitted to Pakistan, New Delhi has also pointed to a Pakistani hand in innumerable attacks across the country and to propping up terror groups in the country.

(Francis Kokutse can be contacted at fkokutse@gmail.com)