Fernandes said "those living in my

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Defence outlay needs to be hiked: George 
GUWAHATI, April 6 (From Darshan Balwally) 

Union Defence Minister George Fernandes said here today that the defence 
outlay needed to be enhanced considerably and former Army chief Gen 
Shankar Roychoudhury's suggestions in this regard would certainly be 
considered while planning the defence budget. 
He, however, parried queries on providing larger stress on development 
of Indian Navy which by and large gets the least amounts of the defence 
budget each year. 

While modernisation of the armed forces must continue, the efficiency of 
the armed forces also needed to be in tandem which modern equipment, Mr 
Fernandes added. 

At the end of his five-day tour of the northeastern region during which 
he inspected troops and met with Army and civilian officials including 
Chief Ministers of the six states, Mr Fernandes said that he would 
provide his assessment of the situation in the insurgency-affected 
northeastern region to the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister 
respectively. 

Mr Fernandes who has been visiting the northeastern region since 1960 
primarily to develop a socialist base there said that lack of economic 
development and insensitivity in handling the issues relating to this 
region had led to insurgencies. 

The Union Minister also ruled out talks with insurgent groups outside 
the country claiming that they were very much Indians and there was no 
need for talks in third countries. 

He, however, admitted that dialogue with the insurgent groups was a 
necessity as `'a deep sense of alienation has set in the northeastern 
region." 

The Defence Minister said that the armed forces were not raised for 
civilian duties and there was also much resentment within the security 
forces who were forced to act against their own countrymen. 

To a query as to why he was harbouring rebels from Bhutan and Myanmar in 
his official residence in Delhi and whether he justified such activities 
by neighbouring countries who provided safe havens to northeastern 
militants, Fernandes said "those living in my house are refugees from 
neighbouring countries. I have till date no evidence that they are 
involved in any sort of militant activities." 

He, however, parried any further discussion on whether the Indian 
militants were refugees in Bangladesh and Myanmar, being helped to 
assert their rights from the Indian Government. 

Mr Fernandes also claimed that he had met some leaders of insurgent 
groups during his visit to the region but refused to reveal whether he 
either contacted or was met with by the representatives of the ULFA, the 
NSCN (I-M), the NLFT (Tripura) and the UNLF (Manipur) respectively. 

"I will inform only the Prime Minister and the Home Minister when I get 
back to Delhi," Mr Fernandes said. 

On the issue of implementation of the fifth Pay Commission 
recommendations, Mr Fernandes said that it was being implemented at some 
levels but needed to be reviewed for all levels which would be done 
soon. 

Source: The Hindustan Time (April 7, 1998)


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