An army convoy moves along the Srinagar- Leh highway leading to Ladakh in Kashmir’s Ganderbal district. (Express photo by Shuaib Masoodi)
India-China Border Face-off Latest News Live Updates: The Chinese army on Thursday evening returned from its custody 10 Indian soldiers involved in Monday’s violent face-off in the Galwan River Valley, even as the Army yesterday clarified that no soldier was missing in action. This was the first time after the 1962 Sino-India War that Indian soldiers were taken into custody by the Chinese side.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to chair an all-party meet in a bid to forge a broad political consensus on the situation at 5 pm. A fourth round of talks in the valley is also scheduled to take place today.
On Thursday, India asked China to confine its activities to its side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and that it must not take any unilateral action to alter it. “Given its responsible approach to border management, India is very clear that all its activities are always within the Indian side of the LAC. We expect the Chinese side to also confine its activities to its side of the LAC,” MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.
In the worst flare-up on the Line of Actual Control in more than five decades, 20 Indian Army personnel, including the commanding officer of 16 Bihar, were killed Monday night in the Galwan valley of Ladakh where disengagement of troops on either side was underway. This is the first time in the last 45 years that Indian or Chinese troops have been killed on the LAC. In 1975, an Indian patrol was ambushed by the Chinese in Arunachal Pradesh.
Indian army soldiers rest next to artillery guns at a makeshift transit camp before heading to Ladakh, near Baltal, southeast of Srinagar. (Reuters)
The United States on Thursday expressed its deepest condolences to India on the loss of lives of its soldiers in violent clashes with Chinese troops at Galwan Valley in Ladakh early this week. "We extend our deepest condolences to the people of India for the lives lost as a result of the recent confrontation with China," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a tweet, hours after his meeting with top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi. "We will remember the soldiers' families, loved ones, and communities as they grieve," he added.
General Bikram Singh (retd), the former Army chief who had pushed for raising a Mountain Strike Corps with the capability of striking at the enemy across mountains, notably along LAC, on Thursday said that given the statements emanating from Beijing and PLA headquarters, it is apparent that China has dug in its heels and is not inclined to disengage. "Military-level talks at various levels are unlikely to yield any perceptible results. An amicable resolution is now possible only through diplomatic and political channels. However, such initiatives should not lull us into complacency. At the military level, we should be prepared to use force to evict the PLA from the intrusion areas and effectively deal with the escalation, which is bound to occur." On the ongoing plan to restructure the Army by setting up integrated battle groups, he said it should be done gradually. “We should not get strategically imbalanced while undertaking such transformation in a hurry… I feel our transformation should be need based.”
If talks do not lead to de-escalation, India should be prepared for a long haul at Galwan Valley in Ladakh, as the Chinese troops are well armed, and with the two armies eyeball to eyeball, more such skirmishes could occur along other points on LAC, former Chief of Army Staff Gen V P Malik has warned. Gen Malik, who led the Army in evicting Pakistani intruders from the Kargil heights in 1999, said, “The Chinese occupation was premeditated and it is apparent from their statements that they are in no mood to withdraw.” The General said the Chinese People’s Liberation Army first came into the area in the garb of conducting a routine exercise. “They told the media that certain large formations were carrying out an exercise. Then they sprang a surprise by occupying these positions.”
The Chinese army on Thursday evening returned from its custody 10 Indian soldiers, including two officers, involved in Monday’s violent face-off in the Galwan River Valley. These soldiers were handed over on the LAC after hectic negotiations between the two sides, including three rounds of talks at the Major General level from Tuesday to Thursday, officials told The Indian Express. As per practice, these soldiers were medically examined and provided a preliminary debriefing. This was the first time after the 1962 Sino-India War that Indian soldiers were taken into custody by the Chinese side.
A Parliamentary panel that discussed bilateral ties after the Doklam crisis in 2017 had warned the Centre that it would always be better to have a sense of “healthy skepticism” while dealing with China, and had expressed discontent over the neighbouring country’s “deliberate encirclement policy of India”. The remarks from the Standing Committee on External Affairs in the 16th Lok Sabha came despite assurances from the then government that there could be a bit of “action-reaction” as India built its border infrastructure on the border and Line of Actual Control with China. The panel, which pointed out that China keeps the border and LAC disputes alive in its interests to throw India off balance whenever it desires, advised that New Delhi requires a flexible approach with Beijing.
A Parliamentary panel that discussed bilateral ties after the Doklam crisis in 2017 had warned the Centre that it would always be better to have a sense of “healthy skepticism” while dealing with China, and had expressed discontent over the neighbouring country’s “deliberate encirclement policy of India”.
The panel, which pointed out that China keeps the border and LAC disputes alive in its interests to throw India off balance whenever it desires, advised that New Delhi requires a flexible approach with Beijing.
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If talks do not lead to de-escalation, India should be prepared for a long haul at Galwan Valley in Ladakh, as the Chinese troops are well armed, and with the two armies eyeball to eyeball, more such skirmishes could occur along other points on LAC, former Chief of Army Staff Gen V P Malik has warned. Gen Malik, who led the Army in evicting Pakistani intruders from the Kargil heights in 1999, said, “The Chinese occupation was premeditated and it is apparent from their statements that they are in no mood to withdraw.”
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The family of Naib Subedar Mandip Singh (39) was inconsolable on Thursday as he was laid to rest with full honours at Seel village in Ghanaur sub-division of Patiala.
As his mortal remains reached home wrapped in the tricolor, his mother Shakuntala (65), son Jobanpreet (12) and daughter Mehakpreet (16) put their arms around the coffin. The children kept asking their mother Gurdeep Kaur, why their father had left them.
His wife told The Indian Express: “Ohna ne sarkar layi bas ikk ginti ban jaana hai par saadi dunia si oh… (For the government he will just become a number in the list of soldiers who died but for us he was our world). His mother is still in shock. People who say that India should got to war with China or Pakistan, please ask the families of the soldiers once. Saade saanh sukke rehende si jadon tak phone ni aanda si (We would always be tense till he would call). Those who say we should have a war, please go to the border and fight. Maybe then someone will understand our pain.”
Naib Subedar Mandip Singh’s son looks on as his mother is handed over the tricolor. (Express photo: Harmeet Sodhi)
THE CHANDIGARH Air Force station, which serves as the air bridge to Ladakh, was bustling with activity on Thursday with several sorties of different types of aircraft being carried out over the last 48 hours.
A lot of men and material have been ferried from Chandigarh air base to forward locations in Ladakh, said sources. The aircraft which have been in action include the C-17, AN-32 and C-130.
Sources in IAF said a high state of readiness has been maintained ever since the stand-off with the Chinese troops in Ladakh. (Man Aman Singh Chhina reports from Chandigarh)
The third round of military talks between India and China in the Galwan Valley made headway Thursday, breaking the deadlock ever since the violent clashes Monday night that left 20 Indian soldiers dead. Major General Abhijit Bapat, GOC, 3 Infantry Division, led the Indian team at the talks with his Chinese counterpart at Patrolling Point-14 in the Galwan Valley. A fourth round of talks is scheduled there Friday.
The meeting Thursday, an officer said, was fruitful where the deadlock of the past three days was broken, with both sides agreeing on certain issues. Many things are expected to be made clear in the upcoming meetings, the officer said. Read more here
As tensions between India and China remain high on the disputed border following death of at least 20 Indian soldiers, a search for military options is leading to questions about the current status of the mountain strike corps, sanctioned seven years ago but stalled two years ago for lack of funds. With only one of its two divisions raised, it now exists in a truncated shape while being tested for Army’s new integrated battle group (IBG) concept.
“Preliminary role for the truncated mountain strike corps is for an offensive – not limited to the east, but in Ladakh as well – in that sense, it is a dual role. It will definitely come into play if a war breaks out,” a military official told The Indian Express. But others contend that had the full raising gone as per schedule, the mountain strike corps could have been an effective deterrent, raising costs for trans-LAC incursions by China. Read more here
The last rites of Naib Subedar Satnam Singh and Naib Subedar Mandip Singh, who were killed in a violent clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan valley of Ladakh, were performed with full state honours.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava is addressing a press conference on the developments in Ladakh.
Responding to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's tweet asking why Indian soldiers were sent 'unarmed to martydom' in Ladakh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said, 'All troops on border duty always carry arms, especially when leaving post. Those at Galwan on 15 June did so. Long-standing practice (as per 1996 & 2005 agreements) not to use firearms during faceoffs.'
In the reporting on the LAC stand-off, the Darbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldie (DSDBO) road has often appeared. What is this all-weather road built by India over nearly 20 years, and why does it matter? Of the possible triggers cited for the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) targeting of Indian territory along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, the construction of the 255-km long DSDBO all-weather road is possibly the most consequential.
The 20 soldiers who died came from 11 states. While CO, Col B Santosh Babu, was from Telangana, the others came from Bihar, UP, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. It was India fighting back. Read more here