Thursday, May 26 2005 17:46 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Asserting that Sino-Indian peace and tranquillity agreement was holding all along the 4,000 kms long border, the Army Chief Gen JJ Singh today (May 26, 2005) said if the trend continued, more Confidence Building Measures, including troop reduction, could be considered.

"If the present positive trend of peace continues on the borders and progress is made in Confidence-Building Measures, it can result in reducing the number of troops in the longer run", Singh told reporters on the sidelines of an Army-CII seminar on information warfare.

Declaring that interaction between the two armed forces was growing, the Army Chief said the armies of the two nations may soon hold joint exercises in counter terrorism and prepare for UN peacekeeping operations.

"We have drawn a roadmap for increasing interaction between the two armed forces which may soon lead to holding of joint exercises in counter-terrorism and preparing for international peacekeeping operations," Singh said.

While saying guns were silent across the Mcmohan line Himalayan frontier, the Army chief said there were few aberrations for which mechanism had been institutionalised.

He said these minimal cases were due to difference in perception in alignment of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and, "We hope that once detailed maps are exchanged in all the three sectors - western, eastern and central, these issues would be resolved."