Vajpayee holds meeting with Service chiefs

Vajpayee holds meeting with Service chiefs
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, DEC 28: Following criticism that the Government had completely ignored the Armed Forces in dealing with the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee met the chiefs of the three Services on Tuesday.

He met General Ved Prakash Malik, Admiral Sushil Kumar and Air Chief Marshal Anil Yashwant Tipnis at his Race Course Road residence this morning. The meeting lasted 30 minutes. Defence Ministry officials refused to comment on the meeting. Defence Minister George Fernandes, who returned from the north-east on Monday, was not present at the meeting. H K Dua, press advisor to the Prime Minister, said, ``The Prime Minister and the three Service chiefs reviewed the current security situation in the country.'' However, it is still not known whether the three Service chiefs would be made part of the Crisis Management Group (CMG) or not. Both the PMO and the Defence Ministry refused to comment on the issue.

As reported in The Indian Express earlier, the threeServices were peeved at not being included in the brainstorming session over the hijacking. Even as the CMG floundered at every step unable to come up with a concrete plan of action, the Armed Forces devised one of their own but were not asked to assist.

``Hopefully, after the Prime Minister's meeting with the three Service chiefs, renewed efforts would be made to involve the Armed Forces in times of crisis like these,'' said an official in South Block.