Pak has role in cross-border terror: Rob Young

GUWAHATI: British High Commissioner to India Sir Rob Young said Friday that there has to be some role of Pakistan in cross-border terror because the terrorists are operating from that country.
Young said the British government was happy with the voter turnout in the J&K elections and felt that they were peaceful.
He also admitted that the Pakistan government can do more than what it was doing at the moment to contain cross-border terrorism in India.
The high commissioner said the British and the US governments were committed to root out terrorism from the world and pressure had to be kept on the forces providing any kind of help or backing to such elements.
When asked if he felt there were dangers of war between India and Pakistan, especially after the recent attack on the Akshardham temple in Gujarat, Young said a military conflict was not the solution to the problem.
He said that there had been substantial improvement in the law and order situation in the Northeast in the last three years and that the UK government was considering encouraging British entrepreneurs to invest in IT and IT enabled services, agro processing and tourism sector in the region.
The British High Commissioner admitted that though the region has large potential in power sector but the poor financial condition of the SEBs and the past experience of foreign investors were major hurdles for investment.
He said some British companies had expressed their desire to invest in the oil and natural gas sector in the region though the interest was limited to exploration only.
The British High Commissioner accompanied by the Deputy High Commissioner at Kolkata concluded his week long tour of the northeast region during which he visited Assam, Meghalaya and Manipur.
The high commissioner also launched the 14th Chapter of Association of British Scholars (ABS) where he said at the moment there were 8000 Indian students in UK and the number was going to increase by at least 25 per cent in the next couple of years .