January 17, 2002	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 2, 1422

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NEW DELHI, Jan 16: India’s navy is fully mobilized to meet any challenge from Pakistan — including a nuclear attack, the navy’s chief said on Wednesday.

“All our ships at eight hours notice can travel 500 miles a day. Our ships are armed, fuelled and provisioned,” Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Madhvendra Singh said while talking to reporters in New Delhi.

But at the same time, there was no need for India to make an offensive foray in the Arabian Sea area, he said.

Regarding the possibility of a nuclear attack, Singh said: “Any country that espouses the doctrine of no-first use of nuclear weapons must have a second strike capability. We have a triad of weapons for a second strike and one of the triad is at sea.”

While Singh did not give details about the weapons, he said the most powerful leg of the triad was the navy, “hidden, moving and under the water”.—dpa\Reuters