India-China Border Violence LIVE Updates: An all-party meeting is underway to discuss the border tensions with China with sources saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attempt political consensus on the government’s diplomatic and military efforts. Twenty Indian Army personnel, including a Colonel, were killed by Chinese troops along the Line of Control in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley on the night of June 15, in violent escalation of a months-long confrontation.
Here’s a look at the top developments on the India-China tensions:
- Sources say home minister Amit Shah will brief party chiefs in attendance at the all-party meeting on details of the Galwan Valley incident and India’s preparedness.
- External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will also brief leaders on the issue and give details of past and present diplomatic efforts, including the de-escalation exercise.
- Sources say PM Modi will then reiterate government’s resolve to protect Indian territory and build consensus on diplomatic and military efforts.
- BSP chief Mayawati is the latest confirmed attendee at the all-party meeting and is joining via video-conference. Among those in attendance at PM’s all-party meeting is Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, who had skipped Modi's virtual meeting with chief ministers on the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Other leaders in attendance are JP Nadda (BJP), Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena), MK Stalin (DMK), Edappadi K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam (AIADMK), N Chandrababu Naidu (TDP), Jagan Mohan Reddy (YSR Congress), Sharad Pawar (NCP), Nitish Kumar (JD-U), Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party), D Raja (CPI), Sitaram Yechury (CPM), K Chandrashekar Rao (TRS), Sukhbir Badal (Akali Dal), Chirag Paswan (Lok Janshakti Party) and Hemant Soren (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha).
- A political controversy erupted ahead of the meeting with the RJD and AIMIM crying foul over not being invited. The parties weren’t called for the meeting reportedly based on their negligible presence in Parliament.
- AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh too had lashed out against the Modi government and the BJP over the apparent snub, but party chief and Delhi chief minister brushed it aside. “We stand with the country and our security forces. Strict action should be taken against China,” he said.
- Several opposition leaders have demanded clarity from the government on circumstances that led to 20 soldiers being killed in clashes with Chinese troops in violent escalation of a months-long standoff at the Line of Actual Control.
- China has claimed it had not seized any Indian personnel in the Galwan Valley, the site of bloody clashes between the two sides in which soldiers on both sides were killed. The development comes amid claims that China had taken some Indian troops hostage and later released them.
- As outrage against the neighbour grows, with calls to boycott Chinese products, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said: “Regarding the serious situation in Galwan Valley, right & wrong is very clear & the responsibility entirely lies with Indian side. India & China are in talks to ease the situation.”
- The Army has denied reports of Indian soldiers being in Chinese custody, saying no personnel are missing in action. Reports quotes army sources as also saying that 18 soldiers undergoing treatment at a hospital in Leh are no more critical and are stable, while 58 soldiers at other hospitals should be back on duty within a week.
- The clashes reportedly involved intense hand-to-hand fighting but no gunfire, in line with longstanding practices aimed at avoiding a full military confrontation over the 3,500-kilometre border. According to Indian officials, soldiers were hit with clubs studded with nails and stones.
- The Ministry of External Affairs has said that it is using diplomatic channels with China to de-escalate a military standoff.
- On the eve of the all-party meeting, too, a war of words had raged between the BJP and the Congress over Rahul Gandhi’s claim that soldiers were sent "unarmed to martyrdom". He had earlier attacked Modi, asking why he was "hiding".
- Hitting back, the BJP had called Gandhi the "most irresponsible politician" India has seen. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said India under Modi will win over "three Cs -- Coronavirus, China and the Congress" as it is no longer the India of 1962 when the opposition party was in power. "You are the most irresponsible politician India has yet seen. Read, understand and then speak. Just don't rant against your country. Don't make such unfounded and misleading claims against your own country to launch your politics," he said.
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