Admiral Karambir Singh, Chief of Naval Staff, said that the Indian Navy has received intelligence that terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM), responsible for the Pulwama attack in February, is training terrorists for an underwater attack.

However, he added that the Indian Navy is fully prepared to make sure there is no intrusion from the seas. “We got intelligence that the Jaish-e-Mohammad’s underwater wing is training men. This is one of the changingforms of terrorism, but we are keeping a watch. We want to assure you that wewill remain alert and all their misadventures will meet with failures,” saidthe navy chief, who took over the helm of the Indian Navy on May 31 this year.

The chief of naval staff was speaking on the sidelines ofthe General BC Joshi Memorial Lecture in Pune on Monday.

On increased focus on maritime security, the chief said,“The underwater wing of the JeM is training people how to conduct attacks fromthe water. After the 26/11 attacks in 2008, we set up a coastal securityconstruct, which is doing very well. The navy is overall incharge of maritimesecurity including, coastal security along with the coast guard, the marinepolice, state government and other stakeholders. We are doing our best to makesure there is no intrusion from the seas.”

Emphasising that the Indian Ocean has always beenstrategically significant, Admiral Singh said that the Indian Navy is alsokeeping a close watch on the movement of the Chinese navy in the Indian OceanRegion (IOR). “We are watching the progress of the Chinese in IOR. Chinese wantto become a global power and they can come into IOR, but we are keeping a watchand there should be nothing which is against our national interest. If there isa threat to our national interest, then we will act,” the navy chief said.AdmiralKarambir Singh delivered the General BC Joshi memorial Lecture on the topic of‘Indian Ocean Region- Changing Dynamics - Maritime Security Imperatives forIndia’, which was organised by the Department of Defence and Strategic Studies,Savitribai Phule Pune University at Dhanvantri Auditorium of Armed ForcesMedical College (AFMC), Pune on Monday.

Lamenting that the naval budget has been reduced to 12%-13%from the earlier 18% (in 2012-13) of the defence budget, the navy chief saidthat long-term budgetary support is a must to build naval capacities andcapabilities.

On being questioned if the formation of the chief of defencestaff (CDS), as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15, will bebeneficial in the future, the chief said, “CDS will be able to prioritisedefence procurement and expenditure. Right now, becuase of our budgetaryallocation, we have had to revamp our procurement plan and it has limited us toan extent. It takes five-10 years to build a ship and I need assured budgetarysupport for that, especially to build up our naval capabilities.”