defence preparedness reviewed in India

With Sri Lanka saying that LTTE's air power was a threat to India's nuclear installations, the country's (India) defence preparedness was reviewed today at a high-level meeting.

The meeting, chaired by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, was attended by Defence Minister A K Antony, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and Defence Secretary Shekhar Dutt.

The meeting comes a day after Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona said there was a possibility of LTTE carrying out air strike on nuclear installations in India besides the shipping interests in the Indian Ocean.

"There is an air threat which has a range of 200-300 nautical miles and this range brings within it not only cities within Sri Lanka, shipping in Indian Ocean but also the nuclear installations of India," Kohona said.

Noting that LTTE is a terrorist organisation that had not hesitated in assassinating former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Kohona said "so the possibility is always there".

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