Terror attacks often launched from across borders: Shinde

Terror attacks are often launched from across sovereign borders to disrupt peace, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said Wednesday and called for enhancing internal security through strategic partnership between India and the US.

Inaugurating the India-US police chiefs' conference here, Shinde said the two countries were at the forefront in countering terrorism and international crime.

"We are also, unfortunately, the leading targets of such trans-national terror groups and crime syndicates. All too often, attacks are launched from across sovereign borders in a manner calculated to cause the greatest disruption of peace. It will have to be the endeavour of all countries to fight this menace in all its forms through partnerships based on genuine and result-oriented cooperation," Shinde said.

He said the conference was a key element in the expansion of India's bilateral cooperation with the United States.

"As strategic partners, the more we can work with each other to enhance internal security, the more meaningful our partnership becomes to the ordinary citizen," he said.

Shinde said India-US Homeland Security Dialogue was an important element of the bilateral security architecture.

He said major terrorist attacks typically target large and densely populated urban areas. "Both our countries have lived through such terrorist carnage, during 9/11 in New York and during 26/11 in Mumbai. Cooperation in megacity policing is intended to enhance capacity to provide an integrated security umbrella to megacities and large urban centres," he said.

The minister said an efficient megacity policing system must serve as an effective deterrent against terrorists and their masters who launch targeted attacks on the nerve centres of a country.

"Our objective must be to make our cities, and, therefore, our countries safe by reducing our vulnerability to such challenges."

Shinde said technology was a key input for policing and the US has consistently led the world in deploying technology in the service of its people.

"There is much that we can do together as partners to enhance the use of appropriate technologies for our police forces," he said.

The minister said India was committed to working as a partner with the US in bringing and applying state-of-the-art technologies to crime prevention, crime detection, forensic analysis and traffic management to make cities safer.

"I urge technology partners from both countries to join hands with each other and with law enforcement agencies to deploy innovative technologies and enhance research in various fields of homeland security," Shinde said.