India, EU have similar approaches to fighting terror: Katju

BRUSSELS - A senior official in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs on Friday admitted that there is a problem of terrorism in Afghanistan, which needs to be addressed, but emphasized that India and the European Union (EU) have similar approaches on these matters.

When asked by ANI TV, whether India and the European Union were seeing Afghanistan through the same prism or completely different in so far as international terrorism was concerned, Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs, Vivek Katju, said: “I think that the international community has to a very large extent seen Afghanistan through similar prisms. There is a problem of terrorism in Afghanistan, that problem needs to be addressed. There is a problem of assistance, of construction, of re-construction and of rehabilitation.”

He also said that Friday’s Joint Declaration on International Terrorism is probably the first time the two sides have addressed a specific issue in such key detail.

“There is the issue of strengthening the central authority in Afghanistan and other authorities. Certainly, India and the European Union have similar approaches on these matters,” he added.

When asked whether the governments of India and EU were thinking on the lines of establishing working groups or would standard operating procedures be adopted, Katju said: “We will have designated authorities, who will go into the specific areas to identify where we can go.”

When it was pointed out that India and the EU do not have similar views, but diverse views, especially with regard to Pakistan and non-interference in Afghanistan, Katju said: “The leaders agreed that the terrorism must be combated firmly and expressed concerned in controlling existence of safe havens, including in the cross border dimension. By Smita Prakash (ANI)