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Washington/New Delhi, Jan 18
The US has asked Pakistan to ensure there is no cross-border terror incident during President Barack Obama’s visit to India, subtly warning of “consequences” if any such attack is traced back to the country.
Obama will arrive in New Delhi on January 25 on a three-day visit to the country. He will 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.
The US has asked Pakistan to ensure there is no cross-border terrorism or even attempts of it during Obama's trip, says sources.
Pakistan has been subtly warned of the “consequences” of any terrorist attack during Obama’s trip if that is traced back to their country, the sources said.
The warning has been issued keeping the track record of Pakistan-based militant groups that have carried out such attacks in India coinciding with high-profile visits. On March 20, 2000, militants had shot 36 Sikhs in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, coinciding with the visit of the then US President Bill Clinton to India from the US. 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. American Secret Service personnel, who have landed in New Delhi and Agra, have already conducted a preliminary survey of the routes to be taken by the US President and Rajpath.
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.
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. A multi-agency control room will monitor the surveillance operations in every area of the National Capital, which has been put on the highest alert.
At least 20,000 paramilitary personnel will be deployed along with 80,000 police personnel to ensure fool-proof security in and around Rajpath. For the first time, the Delhi Police will install face-recognition cameras around the venue and at the city's entry points to identify criminal elements before they sneak in. The cameras will be installed at airports, railway stations, bus stands, etc. and on routes leading to Rajpath.
“These cameras have advanced face-recognition algorithm which will identify faces in a crowd and match them to available photographs of terrorists and criminal elements in our database.
“Once matched, the software will alert us and the suspect can be nabbed,” said a senior police official. “We will install 80 to 100 such cameras at strategic entry points of the city and at the parade venue,” he added.
All metro stations within 1 km of the venue will be shut down on the morning of January 26.
The ITC Maurya hotel, where the US President will be staying, has been taken over by the Secret Services personnel and multi-frequency control room manned by the US officials have been set up. Agencies
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