PM chairs high-level national security meet

New Delhi, Aug 1 (PTI) Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh Saturday chaired a high-level national security meeting
to discuss the situation arising out of intelligence alerts
over possible terror threats via sea to western
states of Maharashtra and Goa.

Attended by the country's top security officials, the
over two-and-a-half hour meeting is also believed to have
discussed the security situation in northern state of Jammu
and Kashmir in the wake of Amarnath Yatra scheduled to start
next week, sources said.

The meeting, held at the Prime Minister's residence, was
attended by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence
Minister A K Antony, Home Minister P Chidambaram, National
Security Advisor M K Narayanan and new Foreign Secretary
Nirupama Rao.

Also present during the discussions were Navy Chief
Admiral Sureesh Mehta, Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor and
Air Chief Marshal P V Naik.

"Navy and Coast Guard were put on high alert yesterday to
locate a suspicious vessel that was lurking in the waters of
Arabian Sea off the Maharashtra and Goa coasts. The search is
still on," the sources said.

The heightened security alert comes against the backdrop
of the audacious terrorist attacks in Mumbai on November 26
last year.

Among the other issues that came up during the
discussions was the mammoth Chinese military exercise that is
currently in progress. PTI