August 7, 2003	Thursday	Jumadi-us-Sani 8, 1424

NEW DELHI, Aug 6: An Indian parliamentary panel on Wednesday attacked the defence ministry for concealing a report that purportedly highlights shady arms deals at the height of the Kargil conflict in 1999.

It flayed the ministry for handing out classified documents on the controversial purchase of unusable coffins during 1999 to an Indian journalist while denying access to the latest probe to the parliamentary panel.

Parliament erupted in uproar after the private Aaj Tak television network cited the report of India’s Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), which deals with high-level corruption.

The 22-member Parliamentary Affairs Committee (PAC) told the federal house that it was unable to launch its own independent probe as the ministry had declined to hand over the now-leaked CVC report, citing national security.

“In the face of refusal by the ministry of defence in supplying the report, the PAC regrets its inability to give their findings on the defence procurement transactions,” the MPs’ watchdog said.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s government tried to ward off the united opposition’s attack by jamming work in parliament’s lower house with protests over the “leak” of the report.

The Aaj Tak television network, citing the purported report, accused unnamed defence ministry officials of accepting bribes, inflating procurement costs of artillery guns, shells and bullet-proof jackets during the conflict four years ago.

Within months of the conflict, national watchdogs dug up a tray of shady arms deals clinched during the fighting, including the import of unusable coffins.

The developments are likely to put Defence Minister George Fernandes in the eye of yet more political turmoil.

Opposition parties have clamped a permanent boycott in parliament of Mr Fernandes, involving his party until he is cleared of a financial scandal that erupted two years ago.

The defence minister, the only socialist in Mr Vajpayee’s Hindu nationalist-led government, nearly destroyed New Delhi’s bilateral ties with Beijing in 1998 by dubbing China as India’s enemy number one. —AFP