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No LeT mole in IAF, says Pranab

Checking done with intelligence agencies

Pune: The intelligence agencies and the Indian Air Force (IAF) have carried out a check into the reported infiltration of two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) activists into the IAF and found no truth in the charges, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Sunday.

"This (existence of two LeT cadres) was an annexure of a report submitted a year ago. On checking up with the intelligence agencies and the IAF, it has been found that there was no truth in this assumption," he said on the sidelines of the 17th convocation of the Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth here.

NSA's letter

National Security Adviser M. K. Narayanan had written to State governments and the Defence Ministry about intelligence inputs that LeT cadres could have infiltrated the armed forces and two of them could have made their way into the IAF. The letter was written on November 30 last.

Asked about the security checking of the three services chiefs at airports, the Minister said that except for some VVIPs there was no exception for any one else under the rule.

Asked if there was a possibility of assigning combat roles for women in the armed forces, the Minister said that as of now the women officers were given the Short Service Commission and had specific role and tenure. However, now the women who join the armed forces as Short Service Commissioned officers would have a service period of 14 years and could rise above the rank of Captain, the same as for male officers.

The decision to induct women as permanent Commissioned Officers and give them combat role was under consideration, Mr. Mukherjee said. — PTI

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