M A I N   N E W S

India says won’t join war on IS
‘Travellers of terrorism’ on Delhi-Washington radar
Modi winds up tour with ‘Thank You America’

Turning heat on Dawood Dawood Ibrahim, the mastermind of the 1993 Mumbai blasts, and his financial network will now for the first time be the target of India and the United States following their agreement to dismantle safe havens for terrorists and criminal networks, including those of the D-company Visit disappointing Diplomacy is serious business. It's not about showing through orchestrated cheerleaders that you are important. No visiting head of state to India has ever done what the PM did at the Madison Square and Central Park in New York. Diplomacy is not event management. — Anand Sharma, Congress The visit lacked substance. This doesn't auger well for India's independent foreign policy... It's not in India's interests to sacrifice good neighbourly relations to advance US strategic interests. — Sitaram Yechury, cpm PM Modi's US visit has been very successful. India's interest was at the centre of this historic visit...The America tour has strengthened India's image at the global level. — Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, bjp

Washington, October 1
India is not going to join "any coalition" in the ongoing fight against the Islamic State, the dreaded militant group in West Asia, but agreed to work with the US to deal with "travellers of terrorism" -- radicalised people who travel for participating in terror activities in that region.

The Indian stand over any participation in the US-led coalition air strikes in the war on terrorism against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria was outlined by an official of Ministry of External Affairs even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared his concerns during summit talks with President Barack Obama over emerging challenges in West Asia.

Vikram Doraiswami, Joint Secretary (Americas) in the MEA, during a media briefing on Tuesday’s summit talks said India was not going to join "any coalition" against terrorism but the two sides had agreed on the need to deal with "travellers of terrorism" -- radicalised people who travel for participating in terror activities in West Asia. "This is a very major issue for us," he said while referring to reports of movement of radicalised youth from India to that region.

Doraiswami said the "joint and concerted efforts" on dismantling safe havens for terrorist groups and criminal networks as resolved by India and the US in the Joint Statement did not mean that the two countries were going to launch operations but will carry out any UN-mandated task. Reports have emerged that the dreaded ISIS group has been recruiting youths from states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra and J&K to fight in Iraq, Syria and other places in the Middle East.

Winding up his whirlwind five-day US visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi "thanked" America for what he said was a highly "successful and satisfactory trip" to the country. "Thank You America," Modi said as he concluded his last official engagement at an event organised by the US Indian Business Council (USIBC) yesterday.

After that he directly left for the Andrews Air Force Base, from where his Air India One took off for New Delhi. "My visit has been very successful. From here I am going to airport directly," Modi said. Earlier, urging top US corporates to establish and expand their base in India before "it is too late", Modi told the USIBC that he would implement in the next 6 months all things necessary for ease of business in India. — Agencies