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Embarrassed UPA government asks IB to probe into Army Chief's letter leak
NEW DELHI: With controversy over the leakage of Army Chief Gen VK Singh's confidential letter to the PMO about the country's lack of defence preparedness sending ripples within the Congress-led UP government, the Intelligence Bureau has been asked by the government to probe the matter.
The leakage of letter has become huge embarrassment for Manmohan Singh-led government as it raises questions about the defence preparedness of the country.The controversy came to light after Gen Singh's letter addressed to the PMO having specific references to the Indian Army's lack of preparedness vis- -vis China was leaked to the media.
In his letter, Gen Singh had pointed to several shortcomings in the country's defence related procurements, obsolete air defence, bureaucratic hassles and shortage of ammunition and critical weaponry required to safeguard the country in the event of a war.The letter blamed the bureaucracy for being least bothered about modernizing India's defence.
€China is unabashedly going ahead with developing infrastructure on the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR)€, but the Indian Army's presence is €far from satisfactory€, Gen Singh wrote.
In his letter, Army Chief has exposed that present situation is similar to the situation in 1962, when Indian army had been found unprepared to take on hordes of Chinese sweeping through Arunachal Pradesh, the eastern parts of J&K and considerable stretches of upper Assam.
He said that Army has been trying hard to get the Centre to sanction Rs 12,000 crore so that our borders with China can be strengthened and a Mountain Strike Corps set up. He also heaped the blame on the bureaucracy for thwarted the army's modernization plans and attempts.
However, Union Defence Minister AK Antony categorically stated that country's defence preparedness has always been strong. Visibly upset, he said that the publishing of the contents of secret correspondence within the government do not serve any purpose adding that such issues can't be matter of public debate," he said.€China is unabashedly going ahead with developing infrastructure on the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR)€, but the Indian Army's presence is €far from satisfactory€, Gen Singh wrote.
An expert on defence affairs said it is a matter of great oncern that how the letter raising questions about country's defence preparedness had been leaked and that too at a time when Chinese president Hu Jintao is here for BRICS summit.
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Punjab Newsline
NEW DELHI: With controversy over the leakage of Army Chief Gen VK Singh's confidential letter to the PMO about the country's lack of defence preparedness sending ripples within the Congress-led UP government, the Intelligence Bureau has been asked by the government to probe the matter.
The leakage of letter has become huge embarrassment for Manmohan Singh-led government as it raises questions about the defence preparedness of the country.The controversy came to light after Gen Singh's letter addressed to the PMO having specific references to the Indian Army's lack of preparedness vis- -vis China was leaked to the media.
In his letter, Gen Singh had pointed to several shortcomings in the country's defence related procurements, obsolete air defence, bureaucratic hassles and shortage of ammunition and critical weaponry required to safeguard the country in the event of a war.The letter blamed the bureaucracy for being least bothered about modernizing India's defence.
€China is unabashedly going ahead with developing infrastructure on the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR)€, but the Indian Army's presence is €far from satisfactory€, Gen Singh wrote.
In his letter, Army Chief has exposed that present situation is similar to the situation in 1962, when Indian army had been found unprepared to take on hordes of Chinese sweeping through Arunachal Pradesh, the eastern parts of J&K and considerable stretches of upper Assam.
He said that Army has been trying hard to get the Centre to sanction Rs 12,000 crore so that our borders with China can be strengthened and a Mountain Strike Corps set up. He also heaped the blame on the bureaucracy for thwarted the army's modernization plans and attempts.
However, Union Defence Minister AK Antony categorically stated that country's defence preparedness has always been strong. Visibly upset, he said that the publishing of the contents of secret correspondence within the government do not serve any purpose adding that such issues can't be matter of public debate," he said.€China is unabashedly going ahead with developing infrastructure on the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR)€, but the Indian Army's presence is €far from satisfactory€, Gen Singh wrote.
An expert on defence affairs said it is a matter of great oncern that how the letter raising questions about country's defence preparedness had been leaked and that too at a time when Chinese president Hu Jintao is here for BRICS summit.
For more News visit:
Punjab Newsline
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