New training modules for the Armed forces

Jaipur, Aug 19 (UNI) The Indian Armed Forces were being imparted extensive training to thwart any possible chemical, biological and nuclear warfare in the future, Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju said today.

Mr Raju, talking to newspersons here said considering the threat of using biological, chemical and nuclear weapons the armed forces have introduced training to face such an eventuality. He said this assumes importance in the light of the charge that Israel has used chemical weapons against the Hizbollah guerillas in Lebanon.

The Armed Forces have also introduced 'network centric operation'under which the intelligence inputs received from each of the wings would be analysed jointly and shared among them, he said.

Reacting to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's proposal of joint management of Kashmir Mr Raju said any proposal for Kashmir issue could be discussed only after Pakistan stops terrorist infiltration into India. The ''Peace process can move forward only if Pakistan ceases terrorist infiltration into Kashmir''.

He said long service commission of women in the Armed forces was being considered by the government. There was no discrimination against women and they were recruited in large numbers into the short service commission including medical and engineering, he added.

This was Mr Raju's first visit to any command after assuming the charge. He interacted with the officers and troops of the command before leaving for Bikaner and Sriganganagar in a special aircraft.

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