Israeli counter-insurgency team in J&K; Govt denies it

October 9, 2000

Nation

HT Correspondent

(New Delhi, September 23)

EVEN AS the Union Home Ministry today sought to distance itself from

the presence of Israeli counter-terrorism experts in India, highly

placed official sources confirmed the group's visit to trouble-torn

Jammu and Kashmir following clearance by the South Block.

In the relevant context, the euphemism South Block could apply to

both the Ministry of External Affairs and the Prime Minister's

Office. That the Israeli team's presence in Kashmir was part of a

well-considered move became evident from the expected arrival next

week of a US group with identical expertise.

Knowledgeable sources confirmed that the Israeli experts' visit was

facilitated by the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). They said the

visitors' objective was to make an assessment of the intelligence

gathering system in the context of border management.

Meanwhile, in Srinagar, Director General of Police Gurbachan Jagat,

when contacted, said, "As far as Police is concerned, there is no

Israeli expert with us nor I have any knowledge about them".

Interestingly, the American delegation headed by Mr Michal Sheehan,

co-ordinator for counter-terrorism in the US's National Security

Council, is likely to meet Home Minister L K Advani, External Affairs

Minister Jaswant Singh and Home Secretary Kamal Pande. But talking to

The Hindustan Times here this evening, Mr Advani denied having

invited any team of counter-terrorism experts from Israel.

Mr Advani said officials from that country were slated to visit India

for discussing modalities of a joint working group on security. But

Kashmir or any other terrorist-infested region weren't on their

itinerary, he claimed.

He said they were arriving here on Monday for the second meeting of

the Indo-US joint group on security.

The JWG's first meeting was held in America last year.

The visiting team is led by Eli Katzir, a member of the counter-

terrorism combat unit of the Israeli Prime Minister's office.

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