Antony asks services to guard against graft, rights violations

In his address to armed forces on Independence Day, the Defence Minister asked troops to "exercise utmost restraint and discipline" while dealing with terrorism, stressing that there must not be a single case of human rights violations anywhere as it will "undo at one stroke, all the good work".

"Corruption today is a serious challenge facing our nation and our Armed Forces are no exception to the rule. I appeal to each one of you to renew the pledge to work with all the honesty, fairness and transparency at your command in your day-to-day work," Antony said.

The Minister's remarks come in the backdrop of several senior defence officers being found involved and punished in scams such as Sukna, Adarsh and Kandivali.

Also, there have been several serious cases of breach of discipline where troops have clashed with their superior officers over issues realted to alleged ill-treatment of jawans.

Antony said terrorism was a major challenge faced by the forces day in and day out and asked the troops to remain vigilant and exercise utmost restraint and discipline.

"There must not be even a single case of human rights violations anywhere as such violations undo at one stroke, all the good work and tarnish the image of our armed forces," he said.

Antony said the government was focusing on strengthening armed forces' preparedness and maximum emphasis has been laid on strengthening coastal security. "We have taken steps to expedite the Coastal Radar Network on both, the eastern and the western coast," he said.