Wednesday, March 9 2005 13:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Centre was not considering erection of another fence along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee informed the Rajya Sabha today (Mar 9, 2005).

Based on the directive from the Chiefs of Staff Committee, a "Joint Amphibious Cell" has been established at Headquarters of Integrated Defence Staff and is functioning since March 2003 for amphibious Warfare related Training and Operations of the three Services, he said in a written reply.

Mukherjee said that the tsunami relief operations were effectively and jointly executed by Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (Operation Branch).

To another question, he said the Committee on National Defence University has recommended the establishment of an Indian National Defence University and inclusion of existing institutes, like National Defence College (Delhi), National Defence Academy (Pune), Institute of Defence Management (Secunderabad), and Defence Services Staff College (Wellington) in it.

It has also recommended setting up of new institutes, like National Institute of Strategic Studies, College of National Security Policy, Institute for Advanced Technology Studies (Bangalore) within the ambit of the proposed University, the Defence Minister said.

On the question about the need for Indian Army having its own satellite as part of the forces' modernisation, he said in the interest of national security considerations, the information cannot be divulged on the floor of the house.