India doesn`t have permanent security policy: Ex-Army chief

India does not have a permanent security or defence policy, former Army chief, Gen VP Malik, has said.

Ludhiana: India does not have a permanent security or defence policy and the government at the Centre is guided in the matter more by "babus" (bureaucrats) than by any specific strategy, former Army chief, Gen VP Malik, has said. Talking about the challenges for India in terms of strengthening its defensive shield, Malik said that the country`s intelligence network needed to be further refined. "Had they (intelligence agencies) provided real information, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee could never have taken a bus to Lahore just before the Kargil War," Malik said, giving an example of poor intelligence inputs. He was speaking today at a programme organised by the Ludhiana Management Association. Referring to the situation on India`s borders, Malik said that China and Pakistan were violating agreements at will.

"Our defence preparation with respect to border roads or infrastructure is insufficient in the sense that our roads are 60 to 70km away from the (Line of Actual Control), while Chinese roads go right up to the border," Malik said. As per official records, Pakistan has violated the Line of Control 87 times this year, which is twice the number as compared to last year, he said. "They continue to run terrorist training camps and provide financial assistance of crores of rupees to terrorist outfits to destabilise us," he said. He said that the civilian administration in Pakistan continues to be dictated by that nation`s Army, adding that, "we should always be wary of Pakistan`s doublespeak". Malik also strongly favoured handing over of the manufacturing of weapons to the private sector, saying it had the potential to churn out armaments of better quality. He said that in the last seven years, the Centre had taken up 73 defence projects, but only a couple of them had been completed. PTI