Intelligence agencies need to be more professional: Ex-Army chief

Chandigarh: Former army chief Gen (retd) VP Malik on Saturday criticised the working of intelligence agencies, saying they had not provided adequate inputs at the beginning of the 1999 Kargil conflict.

"If the initial intelligence inputs were right at the beginning of the Kargil war, then the situation would have been different," Malik said. Malik, who was Army Chief at the time of Kargil war, said the intelligence agencies need to be "made more professional". Malik was speaking at the launch of his new book `India`s Military Conflicts and Diplomacy: An Inside View of Decision Making`. He said that the dependency on the foreign countries for weapons is nation`s biggest problem. "It is shame on us that we are importing 70 per cent of our equipments and weapons from the other nations. We have to be self reliant for the weapons," Malik said. He favoured putting the operation control of the ITBP posted along the China border under the Army. He said that as Army chief he tried for that but it did not happen. Malik said that having two forces along the border one under the control the MHA and other under the Army is not desirable.