Washington: Ahead of President Barack Obama's India visit, the US has asked Pakistan to ensure that there is no cross-border terror incident during the trip and subtly warned of “consequences” if any such attack is traced back to the country.
Obama will travel to New Delhi later this week to attend the Republic Day parade on January 26, the first US president to do so.
The US and Indian security agencies are taking extra care for Obama as he will be on an open air platform at Rajpath for more than two hours, witnessing the parade. It is believed that the US has asked Pakistan to ensure that there is no cross-border terrorism or even attempts of it during Obama's trip.
Pakistan has been subtly warned of the “consequences” of any terrorist attack during Obama's trip if that is traced back to their country, sources said.
The warning has been issued keeping the track record of Pakistan-based militant groups that have carried out attacks in India coinciding with high-profile visits from the US. Militants had shot dead 36 Sikhs in March 20, 2000, in the Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, coinciding with the visit of the then US President Bill Clinton to India.
The US forces in Afghanistan are also keeping a close eye on the activities of the terrorist groups in the region. The US Embassy in Pakistan too has been alerted. Ahead of the presidential trip, there is an unprecedented level of intelligence sharing between India and the US.
At least 10,000 paramilitary troops will be deployed along with the 80,000-strong Delhi Police to ensure fool-proof security in and around Rajpath—the main venue. A seven-layer security ring will be thrown around the VVIP enclosure at the venue and the airspace over the area would be monitored by radar to be specially set up.
This will form part of the planned unprecedented ground-to-air security drill that will turn the national capital into an impregnable fortress during Obama's visit.
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