India assures Britain all help in terror plot investigations

Jul 5, 2007, 13:31 GMT

New Delhi - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday assured his British counterpart Gordon Brown all possible help in investigations into the failed car bombings in London and Glasgow, news reports said.

Two India doctors have been detained - one in Britain and the other in Australia - in connection with the plots.

Singh told a group of women journalists in the Indian capital that he had spoken to Brown and assured him that India would cooperate in the investigations into the terrorist plots, PTI news agency and NDTV television network reported.

During the annual interaction with women journalists Singh also said he was worried about stereotyping of Indians in Britain. Labelling Indians and Pakistanis as terrorists is avoidable, he said.

He said there were misguided youth in any society and this was not community-specific.

'We should not fix labels like Muslims or non-Muslims. It won't help us in understanding the situation or dealing with it. It is very stereotype to classify a person,' he said.

'A terrorist is a terrorist and he has no religion or community,' he said, adding, 'It is wrong to label any community or country. We have to look for solutions.'

If any community was targeted, it would create new sets of grievances, he said.

Singh also said it was wrong to draw instant conclusions about the detained doctors.

He was quoted as saying he could not sleep after watching the their mothers being interviewed on Indian television channels.

The two doctors who have been detained are both from the southern Indian city of Bangalore.

Sabeel Ahmed, who worked at Runcorn Hospital in Cheshire, northern Britain, was picked up by the police in Liverpool. Mohammed Haneef was detained in Brisbane in Australia. The man who drove the jeep in Glasgow and is badly burned has also been identified as an Indian doctor.

Ahmed and Haneef reportedly knew each other and worked in the same hospital in Britain before the latter moved to Australia.

The families of Ahmed and Haneef insist that they are innocent.