By IANS,
New Delhi : Defence Minister A.K. Antony Friday raised doubts over the veracity of the US diplomatic cables exposed by WikiLeaks and appealed to the people to “be careful” while dealing with foreigners and diplomats.
Antony, who spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the 61st Territorial Army parade here, said: “I cannot say anything about its (WikiLeaks) authenticity.”
Leaked US diplomatic cables published by The Hindu newspaper have alleged that the Congress party bribed MPs to win a crucial parliamentary trust vote July 22, 2008.
“Only thing is… my own feeling… however friendly a country is… our people should always be careful in dealing with foreign countries,” he added.
Asked if the cabinet committee on security (CCS) meeting held Thursday discussed the WikiLeaks episode, Antony said the convention was not to brief on such meetings and he would not talk about it.
“We have a convention that whatever happens in CCS, we do not brief. So I am not in a position to react to that,” he said.
On army’s plans to procure M-777 ultra-light howitzers from the US, Antony said the trails of the field guns were going on and a lot of procedures in this regard has been completed.
India is buying 145 of the ultra-light howitzers from the US in a government-to-government deal so that the army can get them in quick time.