While expressing himself in favour of a dialogue with Pakistan, Defence Minister A.K. Antony on Wednesday called upon it to authenticate its sincerity in curbing terrorism from its soil by shutting down the terror camps operating on its eastern borders.
“Still, more than 40 terror camps are working across the border. It is a matter of concern to us. On that, Pakistan should take action to dismantle the terrorist outfits. That apart, dialogue will continue,'' Mr. Antony told journalists on the sidelines of a conference of Defence Accounts Controllers here.
Asked about the Defence Ministry's appeal against a Delhi High Court order according permanent commission to women officers in the armed forces, Mr. Antony drew attention to the issues at play.
On the one hand, the government conducted due diligence and in 2008 granted permanent commission to women officers in seven streams of service. This was done after taking into account the views of the armed forces. And so in the case of the High Court order too, against which the government has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court (likely to come up for hearing on Friday), “I cannot ignore the view of the armed forces.''
Speaking to the financial managers, Mr. Antony called for early disbursal of revised pension and arrears to ex-servicemen.
“Even now, I am getting a lot of complaints from people that they are not getting pensions... Considering the past, things have improved, but even then complaints are there still... So you must take all steps possible so that they get their dues at the earliest.”
e-ticket for air travel
Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju said armed forces personnel could soon avail themselves of the e-ticketing system for air travel.
An internal rail booking system for e-ticketing would be introduced in an additional 200 armed forces units by next month and all units would be covered by year-end, said Nita Kapoor, Controller-General of Defence Accounts.
