Britain’s Army chief to visit LoC this week

British Army chief Gen Sir Mike Jackson, who is here on a five-day official tour, will visit forward areas along the Line of Control later t...

British Army chief Gen Sir Mike Jackson, who is here on a five-day official tour, will visit forward areas along the Line of Control later this week where he will be briefed on the security situation.

Gen Jackson, who arrived here on October 16, today met the three service chiefs and Defence Secretary Ajai Vikram Singh, and discussed an Indo-British joint deployment command post exercise, codenamed Exercise Emerald Mercury, for spring 2005. Indian Army Chief Gen N.C. Vij also gave a presentation this morning on the security situation in Kashmir.

‘‘On what is my first

visit to India, it is evident that the defence relationship between the two countries is in excellent shape,’’ Gen Jackson said. His visit is part of the efforts of the British defence force to familiarise itself with the UPA Government, and comes right after British Secretary of Defence Geoff Hoon’s visit earlier this month.

The British and Indian navies have plans to conduct joint training—while four Royal Navy ships visited India so far this year, a fourth British naval vessel will dock in Goa next month. In the pipeline are programmes for exchange of exercise observers, mountain and jungle warfare specialists, air crew, logistics experts and training instructors. The Indo-UK Defence Consultative Group, which met in Delhi in April, will meet in London in mid-2005.