New Delhi: At least 20 Indian Army personnel were killed in the violent face-off took place between Indian and Chinese troops in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley, government sources said.
Sources added that the casualty numbers could rise.
De-escalation process
The incident took place while the de-escalation process was underway.
Reacting on the incident, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that a violent face-off happened on late evening and night of June 15 in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley as a result of an attempt by the Chinese troops to “unilaterally change” the status quo during de-escalation and the situation could have been avoided if the agreement at the higher level been scrupulously followed by the Chinese side.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said both sides suffered casualties in the violent face-off and the Chinese side departed from the consensus to respect the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Galwan Valley.
Two review meetings held
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held two review meetings over developments in eastern Ladakh during the day.
A meeting was held at the residence of Defence Minister in the evening which was attended by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief General MM Naravane.
Facts about current stand-off
As per the report, last time, such incident took in 1975 in Tung La of Arunachal. In that incident, four Assam Rifles men were killed.
The present stand-off is different from earlier ones.
Two armies are in a standoff at Pangong Tso, Galwan Valley, Demchok and Daulat Beg Oldie
It all started when the Chinese army intruded at four locations. In the month of May, China brought heavy vehicles, tanks, artillery and troops along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh.
Manoj Mukund Naravane’s earlier assurance
On June 13, Indian Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane had assured that the entire situation along the borders with China is under control and the process of disengagement has started.
General Naravane had said, “I would just like to assure everyone that the entire situation along our borders with China is under control. We’re having a series of talks which started with the Corps Commander level talks on June 6 and has been followed up with meetings at local level between Commanders of equivalent ranks.
“As a result, a lot of disengagement has taken place and we are hopeful that through the continued dialogue that we’re having, all perceived differences that we (India and China) have will be set to rest. Everything is under control,” he had said.