New Delhi, Apr 13: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence seems to be having a second thought on calling the three services to give their part of version on the state of preparedness of the forces in meeting external emergencies.
 Sources close to the panel felt that summoning the three chief would convey a wrong message. “The move has apparently been given up as it would unnecessarily send a wrong signal at a time when the talk of a trust deficit between the government and defence forces is being raked up,” they added.
 Chairman of the Committee, Satpal Maharaj had on Wednesday hinted at a change in the decision of the Committee. In a statement which said that no official correspondence for calling the three Service Chiefs on April 20 has "so far" been issued.
 He had issued the clarification statement after sources on the committee had said the three service chiefs would be called to give an account of the state of preparedness of the forces against the backdrop of Army Chief Gen V K Singh speaking of shortages and deficiencies.
 They had said that the "matter was taken up at the highest level" and Maharaj has been made to understand that such a move would not be a mature one as its implications would not be good.
 Earlier too, there was strong feeling among a section of the Committee that calling all three service chiefs together would send a wrong message and, therefore, if there was a need only one service chief should be called at a time.  This section was also critical of the conduct of an official of the Committee who had spoken about calling the three service chiefs.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 13 Apr 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 14 Apr 2012 00:00:00 IST