‘No ceasefire surety despite new border pact with China’
1 Nov 2013 5:27 AM IST
‘The fact that we have agreed on a certain set of procedures, mechanism, does not mean nothing will happen in the border. But with the agreement now, if something happens, then there are mechanisms to immediately intervene and find solutions,’ he said.
The defence minister was asked if the border defence cooperation agreement between India and China would help in avoiding the face-offs such as the one in Depsang valley in Ladakh in April.
The BDCA was signed by India and China to avoid any possible flare-ups between the two sides in the future during prime minister Manmohan Singh's visit to China earlier this month.
Antony said another new thing in the BDCA was to increase contacts between the armed forces of the two sides.
‘Another new development is that there will be more contacts between the two militaries. It will not only be at the higher level but at the field level also. The idea is to develop more trust between the two militaries,’ he said.
He said he was ‘not a prophet or an astrologer’ to say whether there would be no face-off incidents between the two sides in future.
Asked about an article in China about the preparedness of Chinese armed forces to get back its lost land including Arunachal Pradesh, Antony said there will be no let up in the modernisation of the armed forces and government was providing all possible support for it.
Meanwhile, moving ahead towards scrapping the Rs 3,600 crore controversial chopper deal, defence minister AK Antony also said AgustaWestland has ‘violated the contract’ for supplying 12 VVIP choppers for the Air Force.
‘They (AgustaWestland) have violated the contract. We have taken steps to protect our interests,’ he said when asked about the final show cause notice issued to the firm by the defence ministry.
He said the government has to move as per the law and ‘now, the final show cause notice has been served. We have given them 21 days to reply to it.’
The defence minister was asked if the border defence cooperation agreement between India and China would help in avoiding the face-offs such as the one in Depsang valley in Ladakh in April.
The BDCA was signed by India and China to avoid any possible flare-ups between the two sides in the future during prime minister Manmohan Singh's visit to China earlier this month.
Antony said another new thing in the BDCA was to increase contacts between the armed forces of the two sides.
‘Another new development is that there will be more contacts between the two militaries. It will not only be at the higher level but at the field level also. The idea is to develop more trust between the two militaries,’ he said.
He said he was ‘not a prophet or an astrologer’ to say whether there would be no face-off incidents between the two sides in future.
Asked about an article in China about the preparedness of Chinese armed forces to get back its lost land including Arunachal Pradesh, Antony said there will be no let up in the modernisation of the armed forces and government was providing all possible support for it.
Meanwhile, moving ahead towards scrapping the Rs 3,600 crore controversial chopper deal, defence minister AK Antony also said AgustaWestland has ‘violated the contract’ for supplying 12 VVIP choppers for the Air Force.
‘They (AgustaWestland) have violated the contract. We have taken steps to protect our interests,’ he said when asked about the final show cause notice issued to the firm by the defence ministry.
He said the government has to move as per the law and ‘now, the final show cause notice has been served. We have given them 21 days to reply to it.’
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