Surgical Strikes: MoD cites secrecy, won’t brief House panel

Major General Khanduri, however, told The Indian Express that “the committee wanted to know more about these operations and we had made the request to the defence ministry. DGMO has already briefed the country and leaders from all political parties, and we will also be briefed.”

MR Madhavan, President of PRS Legislative research said that “the Lok Sabha Rules of Procedure lists certain topics that cannot be taken up for discussions or questions. While there is no explicit mention of national security, the list includes seeking of ‘disclosure of information that are in their nature secret…of which there is a constitutional, statutory or conventional obligation not to disclose information’. My guess is that military maneouvres could fall into this category.”

Major General Khanduri confirmed that the meeting for October 6 was postponed to October 14, as it had been called on short notice. However, The Indian Express has learnt that while the agenda for the October 6 meeting, circulated to its members had only “briefing by representatives of Ministry of Defence on surgical strikes across the Line of Control”, the agenda for the October 14 had added another item on “Mountain Strike Corps – shortage of arms and ammunition in the army”.

The meetings of the committee are “in camera” and its deliberations do not mention any member by name. Sources said that the draft reports of the committee are sent by the Chairman to the defence ministry before release to prevent any secret information from being made public.

The standing committee on defence consists of 31 members, 21 from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha. It has so far produced 22 reports on various subjects, including defence budget, DRDO, Border Roads Organisation and Ordnance Factories.