NEW DELHI: Congress president
Sonia Gandhi on Friday asked the government whether there was any
intelligence failure on the situation along the
LAC where 20
army personnel were killed in a violent face-off with Chinese troops, and sought an assurance from the prime minister that status quo ante would be restored at the border and China will revert to its original position.
In her introductory remarks at an all-party meeting convened by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Gandhi posed a set of questions to the government, asking specifics about when Chinese troops intruded into the Indian territory in Ladakh and whether the country's external intelligence agencies did not report any unusual activity there.
"The question is, what next? What is the way forward? The entire country would like an assurance that the status quo ante would be restored and China will revert to the original position on the Line of Actual Control," she said.
Gandhi alleged that valuable time was lost between May 5 and June 6 and the government failed to use all avenues of talks to ease the situation and the result was the loss of 20 lives as well as injury to dozens of personnel.
She also asked about the current status of
the Mountain Strike Corps, with two mountain infantry divisions, that was sanctioned in 2013. "Should the government not treat it with utmost priority," she asked.