Tuesday, January 18 2005 15:33 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Government's decision to reduce troops in Jammu and Kashmir was open to review "as and when the situation demands", Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said today (Jan 18, 2005).

"The decision was taken in the context of a particular situation. It is always subject to review. If the number of infiltrators increase or the situation deteriorates, of course there will be a review of this decision," he told reporters after an Investiture Ceremony of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) at their Republic Day camp in New Delhi.

To a question on recent terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, he said the decision would be reviewed "as and when the situation demands" but these attacks "are not enough reason. They are also not due to troop reduction".

Observing that the prevailing levels of infiltration has gone down, Mukherjee said the terrorists always chose major national events like Republic Day or Independence Day or the visits by certain foreign dignitaries to grab world attention.

The Defence Minister said India has been consistently emphasizing that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf "should stick to his own commitment" that Pakistani soil would not be allowed to be used for terrorism and anti-India activities.

Maintaining that militancy depended on the logistical support provided to it, he said the current reduction in cross-border infiltration of terrorists was "mostly due to fencing and stepping up of vigilance by security forces".

To a question on the confidence-building measures (CBMs) with Pakistan, Mukherjee said it was unfortunate that "continuous and unabated support" was still being given to militants by that country.

Mukherjee said India was striving to build good relations with Pakistan and talks were going on at various levels under the Composite Dialogue process.

He said the Government proposed to expand the NCC by making it more attractive and giving more inducements so that larger number of youths joined the "largest uniformed youth organisation in the world", which had a strength of 1.3 million.

"With these moves, there will be no need of making NCC compulsory," Mukherjee said.

Earlier, addressing the NCC cadets after awarding Raksha Mantri medals and commendation certificates to some of them, the Defence Minister said the NCC had played an important role in inculcating qualities of discipline, leadership, camaraderie, team spirit, adventure and national integration among the students and youth of the country.

"In the prevailing situation, the NCC has been playing a vital role in channelising youth energy into constructive activities," he said, adding that the organisation had undertaken various social service schemes, awareness programmes and disaster relief work.

He also commended the cadets who won the awards for their acts of bravery and presence of mind in saving human lives with total disregard for their personal safety.

Those honoured today were cadet Arshad Jamal (Uttar Pradesh), senior under officer Manti Stephen Vaidhya (Andhra Pradesh), Cadets Ajith Mohananand Sreejith Mohanan (Kerala).

The Defence Minister also took a guard of honour at the parade which was attended by foreign cadets from the UK, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Vietnam.