PM reviews preparedness with three Service chiefs

NEW DELHI: Chiefs of the three armed forces met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here on Friday to apprise him of the country���s defence preparedness. The meeting, the third since the 26/11 terror assault on Mumbai, came amid reports of a growing war hysteria in Pakistan and troop buildups across the border.

The event was followed by a meeting of the CCS, convened to clear crucial purchases of arms and required by the
armed forces.

The prime minister���s confabulations with the chiefs of the three armed forces saw him taking stock of the possible conventional military threat scenarios and the counter-measures that the Army, Navy and the Air Force had put in place along the borders, defence ministry sources said.

While the prime minister undertook a review of the security scenario as ���a matter of routine,��� there was no attempt to raise the pitch to counter Pakistan���s posturing. The general state of high alert across the country continues, without getting into a competitive bid with the neighbour.

���In the meeting, the three services chiefs made a presentation on the military preparedness to the prime minister,������ the sources said, adding that issues relating to the Sixth Pay Commission ���anomalies������ were also discussed.

Though the defence ministry described the meeting between the prime minister and the services chiefs as routine, it assumed significance against the backdrop of reports that Pakistan had started mobilising its troops along the
Indo-Pak border.

���The prime minister has been frequently meeting with the services chiefs to discuss security issues since the November 26 Mumbai terror strikes. And this meeting today was also part of that exercise,������ the sources maintained.

After investigations into the Mumbai terror attacks revealed the involvement of Pakistanis, New Delhi has been pressing for international pressure on Islamabad to clamp down on the terror outfits operating from its soil.

At the meeting, PMO sources said, the three services chiefs also discussed the ``anomalies������ in the Sixth Pay Commission report implemented by the government since September 1 this year and the recommendations of the ministerial committee headed by external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee to address the four issues raised by them.

Though the Mukherjee committee had given its report to the prime minister on the defence forces��� pay demands, the government is yet to announce its decision.

Among the four issues raised by the armed forces were placing Lieutenant Colonels in Pay Band-4, parity in grade pay of officers from Captains to Brigadiers with their civilian counterparts, placing Lieutenant Generals in the Higher Administrative Grade Plus pay scales and restoring 70% pensionary weightage to the jawans.