India’s Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh has said that an ‘underwater wing’ of Pakistan- based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) is training people to carry out attacks but assured the Navy is fully prepared to thwart any such attempt. "We have received intelligence (input) that an underwater wing of Jaish-e-Mohammed is training people to carry out attacks from water and that is one change. But we are fully prepared and will thwart any such attempt," he told reporters in Pune on Monday.
Admiral Singh made the remark while answering a query on the changing form of terror and the Navy's response to them. Speaking about heightened vigil along the country's long coast since the deadly November 26, 2008 sea-borne terror attacks by ten Pakistani nationals on Mumbai where 166 people were killed, he said the Navy was overall in-charge of maritime security. "The Indian Navy, maritime police, state governments and other stakeholders are making sure there is no intrusion from the sea," the Navy chief stated.
Singh was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a lecture, titled 'Indian Ocean - Changing Dynamic- Maritime Security Imperatives for India', which is part of a series held in the memory of the late Army chief General B C Joshi. To a question as to how India plans to counter growing Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean, Admiral Singh said, “I won’t use the word ‘counter’. We are keeping a watch on the developments. China wants to be a world power, so they will come into the Indian Ocean Region. But we have to ensure that there is nothing against India’s national interests.”
