Colonel, 2 Jawans Killed in Ladakh Face-Off, Casualties "On Both Sides": 10 Points
NDTV
16 June 2020
Edited by: Deepshikha Ghosh
New Delhi:
Three Indian soldiers, Colonel B Santosh Babu,
Havildar Palani and Sepoy Ojha, were killed in a "violent face-off" on
Monday night with Chinese troops at Galwan Valley in Ladakh, in a
massive escalation in the middle of efforts to defuse weeks of tension
at the border. India retaliated and there were casualties on both sides,
said the army. Army sources say the soldiers were not shot but were
killed in a physical fight on Indian Territory that involved stones and
batons. The foreign ministry said the clashes happened "as a result of
an attempt by the Chinese side to unilaterally change the status quo
there". Major Generals of both sides met to de-escalate tension after
the clashes, according to an official statement. This is the first
violent incident involving fatalities since 1975 between India and
China, who fought a border war in 1962.
The army statement said: "During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place yesterday night with casualties on both sides. The loss of lives on the Indian side includes an officer and two soldiers. Senior military officials of the two sides are currently meeting at the venue to defuse the situation."
Accusing China of trying to "unilaterally change status quo"
in the region, the foreign ministry said: "India is very clear that all
its activities are always within the Indian side of the Line of Actual
Control. We expect the same of the Chinese side."
Colonel B.Santosh Babu of the Bihar regiment was from Telangana. The
jawans who lost their lives were Havildar Palani from Tamil Nadu and
Sepoy Ojha from Jharkhand. There was no shootout,
say sources, on the clashes that caused "significant casualties" on the
Chinese side. "There was no firing. No firearms were used. It was
violent hand-to-hand scuffles," an unnamed officer was quoted by news
agency Agence France Presse as saying. The clash took place just as
Chinese troops were getting ready to move away from a location per an
agreement. The Colonel was reportedly assaulted with stones and Indian
soldiers retaliated, which led to close unarmed combat for several
hours. The soldiers disengaged after midnight.
The only admission of casualties on the Chinese side so far has come from the editor of their government mouthpiece Global Times.
"Based on what I know, Chinese side also suffered casualties in the
Galwan Valley physical clash. I want to tell the Indian side, don't be
arrogant and misread China's restraint as being weak. China doesn't want
to have a clash with India, but we don't fear it," tweeted Hu Xijin,
Editor-in-Chief of Global Times.
Beijing, in an aggressive statement, accused India of crossing the
border, "attacking Chinese personnel", reported AFP. China's Foreign
Ministry was quoted by Reuters as saying India should not take
unilateral actions or stir up trouble.
"What's shocking is that on June 15, the Indian side severely violated
our consensus and twice crossed the border line and provoked and
attacked the Chinese forces, causing a violent physical confrontation
between the two border forces," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson
Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing. "China is raising strong
opposition and stern representations to the Indian side on this," he
said.
In a day of high-level meetings, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Home
Minister Amit Shah in the evening. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh
briefed PM Modi after a meeting with Chief of Defence Staff (CDS)
General Bipin Rawat, the three military chiefs and External Affairs
Minister S Jaishankar. Rajnath Singh also met the military chiefs for
the second time in the evening.
For more than six weeks now soldiers from both sides have been engaged
in a stand-off at least two locations along the Line of Actual Control
-- the 3,488 km de-facto boundary between India and China, and have
rushed additional troops to the border. They have been facing each other
at the Galwan River, which was one of the early triggers of the 1962
India-China war, and at the Pangong Tso -- a glacial lake at 14,000 feet
in the Tibetan plateau.
After weeks of face-off including an incident in which patrolling
soldiers clashed on the banks of Pangong Lake, resulting in injuries,
friction eased following talks. Indian and Chinese military commanders
had been in talks in Galwan Valley area and Hot Springs. The Chinese
Army had earlier pulled back its troops from the Galwan valley, PP-15
and Hot Springs in Eastern Ladakh area. The Indian side also brought
back some of its troops and vehicles from these areas.
China has been upset about the Indian construction of roads and air
strips in the area. The government has pushed for improving connectivity
and by 2022, 66 key roads along the Chinese border will have been
built. One of these roads is near the Galwan valley that connects to
Daulat Beg Oldi air base, which was inaugurated last October. Chinese
military spokesperson colonel Zhang Shuili on Tuesday claimed "China
always owns sovereignty over the Galwan Valley region".
Comments
Post a Comment