No decision yet on fielding army to fight Maoists - Antony

Govt examining all pros and cons of various aspects of deploying army in anti-Naxalite operations in the country.

PTI | May 31, 2010



Defence minister A K Antony today said the government was "examining all pros and cons of various aspects" of deploying army in anti-Naxalite operations in the country.

While making it clear that government had not taken any decision in the matter so far, he said, "we are carefully examining all pros and cons of various aspects and once a decision is made, it will be binding on the military."

"The armed forces will also accept whatever decision government takes" and implement it with vigour, Antony added.

Antony, interacting with the media after taking salute at the passing out parade of 118th course of National Defence Academy (NDA) at Khadakwasla, about 20 kms from here, refuted a suggestion that the Union cabinet was split over the issue of bringing in the armed forces to combat the Naxal violence.

Denying that the matter came up for discussion during his recent meeting with Army Chief General V K Singh, Antony said it was a routine call.

On the Naxalite menace, Antony said government was taking seriously the "emerging scenario" in which both national and internal security had assumed prime importance.

After the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the government was taking utmost care to step up land, air and coastal security and the armed forces were fully alive to increasing threat perceptions stemming from international terrorism, he said.

Earlier, the minister reviewed a passing out parade of the young NDA cadets.
 

Comments

 

Other News

Inching closer to a trade deal with America

The cooperation between India and the United States goes back quite a time. We need to relegate that era to the backburner when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru visited US in the times of president Dwight Eisenhower and called the American let-off of 10 million dollars in defence aid to Pakistan as a “gun w

Manch vs Musk: Forty people and a foreign billionaire

About forty people walked the roundabout on Teen Murti Marg to the gate of Chanakyapuri police station, a distance you could cover in under a minute, on Friday to protest against Elon Musk’s Starlink. The walk was called by the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch. Nobody joined them on the way, and nobody seeme

Master sculptor recalls the making of the Shankaracharya statue

The Golden Chisel: The Story Behind the Making of Ram Lalla  By Seethalakshmi S. and Rahul Nandan Rupa Publications, 168 pages, Rs 395  

Mumbai’s missing affordable homes

Mumbai’s real estate market keeps growing, yet homeownership remains out of reach for much of its population. Three experts – urban researcher Hussain Indorewala, urban planner Vidyadhar Phatak and developer Kamlesh Thakur of NAREDCO Maharashtra, agree that simply constructing more apartments

Rubio denies US foreknowledge of Starlink restrictions in Ukraine

US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said he was unfamiliar with the Wall Street Journal report suggesting Elon Musk had decided to throttle Starlink services in Ukraine, but rejected claims that Washington had ordered the restrictions to pressure Kyiv.   “There was no

Can AI change India’s breast cancer story?

Breast cancer has become a public-health challenge in India. The greatest opportunity is to find cancers earlier. Artificial intelligence (AI) is opening a new era in breast cancer detection. AI systems can analyse mammograms and other breast-imaging studies, identify subtle abnormalities and assist radi

Upcoming Conferences



-->

Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter