Highlights:
- India and China have a violent face-off in Ladakh
- 2 soldiers and 1 commanding offer lost their lives
- The incident took place on Indian territory
On Monday night, in a violent face-off between India and Chinese soldiers at the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, 1 commanding officer and 2 soldiers of the Indian Army lost their lives. This resulted in a massive escalation at an already tensed time between the two countries while efforts were being made to defuse this tension.
Currently, the senior military personnel of both countries are in a meeting, said an official statement, today.
Reports citing Army sources say that soldiers were not shit but were killed in hand-to-hand combat on Indian territory.
The official statement said, “During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place yesterday night with casualties. 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.”
China has accused Indian of crossing the border and “attacking Chinese personnel” as reported by the news agency Agence France Presse. The Foreign Ministry of China said that it called on India to not take any unilateral action which could stir up trouble, reported international news agency Reuters.
Both Indian and Chinese soldiers have been locked in a standoff since weeks now at the Pangong Tso, Galwan Valley, Demchok and Daulat Beg Oldie in the eastern part of Ladhak. Chinese soldiers in huge numbers even transgressed into the Indian territory of the Line of Actual Control or the de-facto border in several areas including Pangong Tso.
After weeks of face-off which also included an incident wherein the patrolling soldiers from both the countries came to blows on the banks of Pangong Lake which caused injuries, though the tension eased with talks.
India and Chinese military commanders have been in talks in Galwan valley and Hot Springs.
Earlier, the Chinese personnel pulled back from the Galwan Valley, PP-15 and Hot Springs in the eastern parts of Ladhak. India, too, brought back some of its soldiers and fleet from those areas.
China has shown displeasure of India construction roads and runways for the fighter-planes in the area which comes under the India territory.
After years of neglection, Current Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi and his government is pushing to improve the connectivity by 2022 with 66 key roads along the Chinese border on the Indian territory. One such road is near the Galwan valley which connects Daulat Beg Oldi air-base which was inaugurated last year in October.
