KATHMANDU: India’s top military commander has warned that a larger conflict cannot be discounted along the India-China borders.
Speaking at a webinar by the National Defence College as part of its diamond jubilee celebrations, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat said that Indian will not accept any shifting of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
“We will not accept any shifting of the Line of Actual Control,” said Rawat. “In the overall security calculus, border confrontations, transgressions and unprovoked tactical military actions spiralling into a larger conflict cannot, therefore, be discounted,” he added.
The statement of the Indian Chief of Defence Staff comes at a time when Indian and China are held the 8th round of military talks at Corps Commander level to defuse the seven-month long tense military confrontation in June in bordering Galwan Valley.
According to Indian media, corps commanders of two countries met in Ladakh on Friday for the eighth round of talks between the military leaderships since the crisis began.
India has been reiterating its stance of firm disengagement across the entire Eastern Ladakh, Chinese side proposes to pull some troops back from a contested area on the northern bank of Pangong Tso lake, where soldiers were separated by a few hundred meters.
At least 23 Indian soldiers were killed in a brutal hand-to-hand-brawl between the soldiers of two countries in the Galwan Valley on June 15. While India claims that there were casualties among the Chinese as well, China has neither confirmed nor denied any death of its soldier.
While attempts to ease the situation through diplomatic and military channels have made little headway, there has not been any clash in recent weeks barring some accusations of provocations from both sides.
Chief of Defence Staff Rawat said that the situation in Eastern Ladakh remained tense and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was facing “unanticipated consequences” of its “misadventure” in Ladakh because of the Indian defence forces’ firm and strong response.tion with lawyers
