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Govt cancels army chief’s Israel visit

Citing the critical situation prevailing in the middle-east, the government has cancelled army chief Gen VK Singh’s travel to Israel.

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Citing the critical situation prevailing in the middle-east, the government has cancelled army chief Gen VK Singh’s travel to Israel.

Gen Singh was scheduled to visit Tel Aviv on March 16-18 to discuss and review military programmes between the two countries. Sources in the army said Gen Singh was to discuss with his Israeli counterpart, the future joint development of defence programmes.

Defence cooperation between India and Israel has become stronger in recent times with India emerging as the largest purchaser of Israeli defence hardware since the beginning of the century.

Israel is India’s second largest defence supplier after Russia, garnering business worth over $10 billion since 1999, when India fought the Kargil war with Pakistan.

According to defence ministry officials, the situation in Israel is not favourable for the General’s visit with war clouds gathering over Iran, especially after the recent attacks on Israeli diplomats in foreign countries, including in India.

“During this period, army chief’s official visit to Israel visit could send wrong signals to Iran. And it might create unnecessary misunderstanding,” a ministry of defence official said.

However, minister of state for defence MM Pallam Raju pointed to the instability in Syria as the reason. “Syria is restless and other things are happening in the region...,” he told reporters while replying to a question on the reasons for cancellation of the General’s visit. “Primarily because of what is happening in Syria which is experiencing little turbulence. So I guess it is better. I am sure they must be better informed about the situation.”

When asked why the decision was taken so late, he said, “These things can happen anytime. We cannot predict. So it is better to be cautious.”

— With agency inputs

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