NEW DELHI: Indian parliament's committee on defense on Friday grilled top army as well as civilian defense ministry officials, after one of India's leading newspapers claimed that an unannounced army maneuver by a few key army units towards the national capital, rang alarm bells in the civilian administration including the prime minister's office. Both defense secretary Shashikant Sharma and a senior general who attended the committee hearing are learnt to have rubbished the media reports published in The Indian Express as “baseless” to the committee, adding that the maneuvers were merely undertaken to test the preparedness of the armed forces. The parliamentary committee comprises of MPs Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM),Mukhtar Naqvi (BJP), P J Kurien (Cong), Ram Yadav (RJD) and is chaired by MPSatpal Maharaj. The Indian Express in its Wednesday's edition had claimed that in January this year, several key mechanized as well as infantry units, including an elite paratroop regiment had marched towards New Delhi in unison, which had caused anxiety in the seat of India's civil administrative authorities. The report comes at a time when the relationship between the Indian civilian establishment and the Indian army at the world in the last 20 years, after its top most office general V K Singh dragged the central government to court over the issue of his age of retirement. Singh's recent disclosure about a retired army official attempting to bribe him, to clear an automobile contract for the Indian army has also worsened relations between Singh's army and the Manmohan Singh's government. The committee is expected to meet again on April 9.
