New Delhi: Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee today (July 3, 2004) said the Government was confident that the anti-infiltration fencing being erected along the Line of Control (LoC) would prove to be an effective deterrent.

He said adequate steps had been taken to safeguard the country against all threats, including nuclear.

Downplaying Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's recent vow to carry out more missile tests, Mukherjee said the countries had reached an understanding to inform each other whenever they conducted nuclear or missile tests.

"We have taken certain steps, which we can't make public," the Defence Minister said in reply to questions on what countermeasures India had taken.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function to release a film on the heroic defence of Noushera and Jhangar by late Brig Mohammed Usman during the 1947-48 tribal invasion of Kashmir, the Defence Minister said, "Fencing is aimed at stopping both infiltration and exfiltration of militants" and hoped it would have the "desired impact."

Countering Pakistan's objections to the fencing work, Mukherjee said it was not a "military activity" and was designed purely to stop ingress of militants from across the border.

Earlier, paying tribute to the Brig Usman on his martyrdom day, Mukherjee said the soldier was a symbol of India's secularism.

"Brig Usman had the choice of switching over to Pakistan Army. But he stayed on with the Indian Army, saying India was his motherland," he said.