By IANS,
New Delhi: Defence Minister A.K. Antony Monday said India has no information on a China-Pakistan joint military exercise held close to the Indian border recently.
In a written reply to questions in the Lok Sabha, Antony’s answer to a query whether a joint military exercise of Pakistani and Chinese armies was being carried out merely 25 km away from the border with Jaisalmer area of Rajasthan was an emphatic “no”.
“No…there is no information regarding such an exercise being carried out,” he said, but admitted that India and Pakistan have an agreement in place to issue each other prior notice of any joint military exercise within the radius of 50 to 75 km along their border.
Media reports in the recent past, including from Chinese official media, have indicated that Chinese army personnel had carried out a counter-terrorism exercise with Pakistan Army personnel in Jhelum in Pakistan’s Punjab province in the middle of November.