M A I N   N E W S

Sharon arrives in India on Sept 7 
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 1
On September 7 when Mr Ariel Sharon becomes the first Israeli Prime Minister ever to set foot on the Indian soil, the visit would indicate the extremely close strategic ties that have gone from strength to strength in the post 9/11 world.

The government had been warned by Central agencies of the highest threat perception for the Israeli hawkish leader. A massive security umbrella would be thrown for Mr Sharon in Delhi, Agra and Mumbai during his five-day visit.

Crack teams of Israeli commandos and Mossad, the Israeli secret service, were understood to have already arrived here to satisfy themselves about the security arrangements for Mr Sharon. Special commandos would be deployed at all spots in the three cities which Mr Sharon would visit.

Sources said several agreements, including on security and strategic cooperation between New Delhi and Tel Aviv, were going to be inked during the visit. Officials were, however, tightlipped on details about the agreements as well as the several-tier security for Mr Sharon.

Complications had arisen in view of the stiff opposition to Mr Sharon’s visit by the Left and several other opposition parties.

Israelis were involved in a big way in the counter-terrorism and counter-infiltration areas of Jammu and Kashmir and were supplying such tactical equipment to India like unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), thermal imagers and sensors of different kinds which had been deployed along the Line of Control (LoC).