Bangalore, February 18 (Agencies): The US Ambassador to India Timothy J Roemer today said the US and India share a “common enemy” and a common perspective of threat from some militant outfits. “They (the militant outfits) can strike very quickly in a bloodthirsty way into any part of the globe and this is something that our President and your Prime Minister is taking very seriously,” Roemer said. He said both nations are working closely to enhance security and safety.

Both India and US are cooperating in terms of collecting, sharing and analysing information, he told reporters during a visit to Envirofit, a Bangalore-based enterprise developing fuel efficient cook stoves. “The Indian Home Minister had a very successful visit to the US recently, looking at labs working on anti-terrorism, meeting the New York Police and trying to find out the best practices in the US,” Roemer said. He reiterated that his country is ready to provide any assistance in the Pune blast investigation if India sought it.

“We would provide any assistance we could...We will do it only if asked. We respect the process. Going forward, when the (Indian) government wants or sees a need and asks for any technical assistance, we as a government will be happy to provide it,” the US Ambassador said. Describing the Pune blast as tragic, he said after the incident he immediately called up Home Minister P Chidambaram and offered American peoples’ condolences. On David Coleman Headley, whose role in 26/11 Mumbai terror attack is being probed, Roemer said, “Headley may well be responsible for canvassing, tracking information to pass on to attackers of Mumbai blast. This is the sort of the thing that the US is extremely serious about.”
“The US will track people like Headley and other blood thirsty terrorists wherever they go to bring them to justice,” he asserted. “We want Headley to cooperate. We want him to continue giving us valuable information,” he said, adding currently the process of investigation is on and not being interrupted. “We want, along with Indian people and Indian government, to bring him to justice and make sure he pays a severe penalty for what he has done,” Roemer said.
On Indo-US relationship, he said it is a growing strategic relationship and there are various areas of opportunities for it to grow, including fighting piracy, maritime, defence exercises, weapon procurement and humanitarian causes. “It is up to the Indian government where they want to take this relationship...There is no limit to this relationship...That does not mean there are agreements on every issue...no country or ally has it (total agreement),” Roemer said.