Antony rules out withdrawl of troops from Siachen

Bangalore, Dec 22: Defence Minister A K Antony today ruled out withdrawl of armed troops from the Siachen border keeping in view the growing irritants in the region.

Speaking to newsmen here, after inaugurating the new campus of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR), he said India always wanted friendly relationship with neighbours especially the immediate ones. However, the real problem the country faced was infiltration from across the border. These infiltrators were being supported and encouraged by Pakistan which had also expressed desire to have friendly relationship with India. If Pakistan was sincere it should put stop to infiltration.

He referred to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's interest in improving relationship and said "interest is not enough, action is more important." He said situation could improve only when Pakistan realised the ground realities. If they accepted them, then " we could have authentication and move forward in improving relationship between the two countries," he added firmly ruling out either withdrawl or reduction of troops in Siachen. In case of China too, there were some irritants and efforts were already initiated to improve relationship.

To a question related to cross border terrorism, he said the situation was being reviewed regularly and measures had been initiated to keep eternal vigil.

Answering a question related to acquisition of fighter aircraft for Indian Air Force, he said the government was committed to fulfil demands of the armed forces to meet the growing challenges. " We are ready to procure most modern equipment and aircraft at the earliest to meet such requirements," he assured.

He said the government would accept the Mandan Committee, expected to submit its report within two months, on various issues related to the human reforms in the armed forces.

UNI