Australia downplays Commonwealth security concerns

MELBOURNE - Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith, who will study the Commonwealth Games preparations when he visits India this week, has downplayed security concerns related to the event.

Smith, who will leave Perth Monday, will meet government officials to discuss the Games, scheduled in New Delhi Oct 3-14, and watch Australia compete in the ongoing World Hockey Cup during the three-day trip.

“I want to have conversations with relevant Indian ministers about the planning for the Games,” Smith was quoted as saying in the Age. “I’ll also be inspecting some of the Commonwealth Games facilities.”

Smith, however, played down the security concerns after a militant group earlier this month warned athletes from taking part in the Indian Premier League, the hockey World Cup and the Commonwealth Games.

“It is a most regrettable fact of modern life that at any major sporting event, there is a threat of terrorist or other attack and we have to be absolutely vigilant,” he said. “The conclusion we’ve come to is we don’t regard that threat as a credible threat.”

Smith said the federal government was providing the latest information on India’s security situation to relevant parties.

“It’s a matter for individual athletes or sporting bodies to decide whether they take part (in competition) or not,” he said.