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After Violent Clash, China Claims Sovereignty Over Galwan Valley for First Time in Decades

For India, Galwan was always seen as the area where the lay of the Line of Actual Control was not disputed.

Satellite image of the Galwan valley at the point where the Galwan river enters the Shyok river Photo Credit: The Wire/Google Maps

New Delhi: The Chinese military’s statement on the violent clash in eastern Ladakh has a claim that China has not made directly for decades – sovereignty over entire the Galwan valley.

The Indian Army has stated that 20 Indian soldiers were killed in action in a violent face-off with Chinese soldiers in the Galwan area on Monday night. This marked a sharp escalation in tensions between the two countries, who had reportedly been in the midst of a process of disengagement from their stand-off that began six weeks ago.Both the Chinese foreign ministry and army asserted that Indian troops had provoked the violence by crossing over to their territory, but the latter explicitly cited China’s claims.“The sovereignty over the Galvan Valley area has always belonged to China,” said PLA western theatre command spokesperson Colonel Zhang Shiuli.

While a Chinese map of 1962 extends its boundary up to the Shyok river – the zone of contention today – for India, Galwan was always seen as an area where the lay of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was not disputed, unlike in other places like Pangong Tso, where there were overlapping claims.

Therefore, it had been a rude wake-up call when India first observed Chinese troops pouring into the Galwan region in early May, leading to the first face-off on the night of May 5-6.Indian military sources had said that the Chinese build-up of troops in Galwan had been unexpected since this was usually the season for PLA to conduct exercises at their traditional grounds at Kangixwar and Xaidulla. Instead, India had claimed that China had violated the spirit of the border agreement, by not confining their troops to their traditional exercise grounds, but rather spilling them from Galwan into other areas of contention in eastern Ladakh.

Galwan has a role in historical memory of the Sino-Indian conflict as it was the first Indian post that was overwhelmed by the Chinese in summer of 1962 – and was one of the first markers of the start of the war.

However, since then, Galwan had been a relatively peaceful area of the LAC, where Indian and Chinese patrol teams did not come face-to-face unlike other contentious sections, as per Indian military sources. The situation has changed now.

Fifty-eight years after 1962, the capture of Galwan river valley provides the PLA strategic domination over positions overlooking India’s Darbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldi (DSDBO) road, which connects Leh to the Karakoram Pass.India had started work on DSDBO road in 2001, but it was finally completed after a realignment of the section along the Shyok river last year.

At various border meetings after the stand-off, the Chinese had repeatedly raised concern about the DSDBO road – even though the Indian side had been sceptical that China was articulating the real motivation for its actions in eastern Ladakh.

The highest-level military level meeting on the current crisis was held on June 6 at Chushul between Leh corps commander Lieutenant General Harinder Singh and South Xinjiang Military Region’s Major General Liu Lin.

On June 10, Ajai Shukla had first written, in The Wire, that PLA negotiators had refused to even discuss the intrusions by their troops into Galwan river valley, instead claiming ownership over the entire area.

At the June 6 talks, the Chinese had asserted that their ownership of the entire Galwan valley, claiming that they had controlled the hills along the river for “as long as they could remember”.Shukla also wrote that by dominating the DSDBO road, China had also managed to isolate the Depsang area, where a substantial Chinese presence had also been observed.

Note: The article has been edited to add a reference to China’s 1962 map

With inputs from The Wire; ET Bureau

It was unusual in the 19th century for rivers to be named after their regional discoverers. But Galwan, and his love for exploration, stood out.

By: SANDEEP CHAUDHARY

The Servant of Sahibs | Source: Sandeep Chaudhary

Man seems to possess an inherent desire to record his presence in this world, to leave some trace of his existence,” Dr Azaz A. Baba wrote in his foreword to the autobiography of Ghulam Rassul Galwan titled Servant of Sahibs. That desire got fulfilled for Ghulam Rassul, the explorer from Leh, when the Galwan river was named after him.

This approximately 80-kilometre long river originates in the Samzungling area and flows west to join the Shyok river, which further joins Indus at Keris, near picturesque Skardu.

In 1899, Galwan, a 21-year old young explorer stood on the banks of a previously unknown river in northeastern Ladakh. He was the caravan in-charge of a British expedition to the areas north of Chang Chenmo valley.

The British had developed an interest in exploring these areas in the 1890s. They wanted to see if they could develop a caravan route through this valley and connect the Indian subcontinent to the Tarim Basin in the Xinjiang region of China. Tarim Basin mostly covered by the Taklamakan desert formed the spine of the ancient Silk Route. Now, China has invested in developing this area under Xi Jinping’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The Silk Road routes lost their significance 15th-century onwards, with the rise of the Ottoman Empire and the ensuing boycott of trade with China.

But that unknown river became the Galwan — one of the few rivers and natural formations named after regional explorers of the time. And that is the river everyone is talking about now as India-China stand-offs continue across the Line of Actual Control.

The Galwan family

Galwan talks about his maternal great-grandfather, Kara Galwan, with a lot of fondness in his autobiography. The word ‘Kara’ in Kashmiri means black and Galwan means robber. Kara Galwan operated in the Kashmir Valley during the rule of the Dogra rulers. Galwan portrays his grandfather as a sort of Robin Hood, who looted from the rich and distributed among the poor. The Maharaja’s army arrested Kara Galwan, and most of his relatives had to flee from Kashmir.

His grandfather, Mahmut Galwan fled to Baltistan along with his brother Gaffor and two sisters. A few years later, Mahmut married a Balti woman and the family moved to Leh. That Balti woman gave birth to Galwan’s mother, who was raised by her relative Gaffor Galwan, who had no children of his own. She got married to Shukur Galwan, who was raised in the same household by Gaffor. Shukur eloped to Yarkand shortly after marriage and left his young bride behind in Leh. She got married to a man named Ibrahim and gave birth to Galwan in 1878.

An explorer is born

In the year 1890, the British government commissioned a 27-year-old army officer named Captain Francis Edward Younghusband to explore the Pamirs in Central Asia. Patrick French, in his biography of Younghusband, has called him ‘The last Great Imperial Adventurer’. Captain Younghusband, who later retired as a Lieutenant Colonel, was born to a British military family in now-famous Pakistani tourist spot Murree. He joined the British army in 1882. He was made a captain in 1889, and sent to explore uncharted areas of Ladakh including areas north of Chang Chenmo valley.

He later wrote a book titled Kashmir on his service years in the Valley. In the summer of 1890, Galwan, only 12-years-old, met Captain Younghusband and accompanied him on his expedition to Yarkand. A life of exploration started for young Galwan.

Over the next decade, Galwan accompanied French, Italian and British expeditions through this mountainous corner of the subcontinent. It was the expedition to the northern areas that he led in 1899, which led to the exploration of his life, the Galwan river.

The weather is extremely harsh in that part of the world and can break strongest of humans. The temperatures can plummet to less than -30 degree Celsius. Food availability must have been scarce in that period. Galwan and his comrades, dressed in their traditional clothes, explored this cold desert for years. Like other explorers of his generation, Galwan was inspired by the idea of going into the unknown. He wrote in his autobiography that his happiness lay in exploring the territories from Yarkand to Pamirs. Galwan’s strong desire to take a shot at eternity was driven by an equally strong desire to understand the past. The man’s spirit is reflected through this song that he mentions in his autobiography —

“Don’t look up the mountains at the sun.
You will be cold: never be warm.
If look far away husband or wife,
Heart will be sorry, never be glad.
Come people, quickly down.”

From top hills to hill-tops

Galwan taught himself how to lead caravans, the nuances of mountaineering and working knowledge of Chinese and English. He owes his autobiography to the English he learnt while travelling with the sahibs. His autobiography remains a unique account of those legendary explorations by him and explorers of his generation to the Tibetan plateau, the Pamir mountains and deserts of Central Asia.

Galwan later became the Aksakal of Ladakh or Chief Native Assistant of the British Joint Commissioner (BJC). The BJC used to be the authority that controlled trade of goods and movement of caravans coming from Tibet, mainland India and Turkistan. Galwan died in 1925, two years after his autobiography was published. His life of journey and exploration lives on through the river named after him. His short journey of life can be summarised in his own words, “Everywhere he like he go. From top hills to hills tops”.

The author is an IPS officer and SSP, Anantnag. Views are personal.

With inputs from ThePrint

Casualties ‘could have been avoided’ had pacts been followed, says MEA

Accusing the Chinese troops of “attempting to unilaterally change the status quo” in the Galwan valley, the Ministry of External Affairs said the casualties “could have been avoided” had agreements made by military commanders over the past week been followed by the Chinese side.

In a statement on Tuesday night, MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the violence that claimed Indian soldiers’ lives in the Galwan valley, including that of a Commanding Officer of Colonel rank, had come despite a series of ground-level discussions on de-escalation of the month-long standoff between the two armies.

According to the statement, the talks on June 6, had been “productive” and meetings had been held “to implement the consensus reached at a higher level” on de-escalation and de-induction of troops.

Five points
At least five points in Ladakh including the Galwan Valley patrolling points, Hostprings area and Pangong Tso (lake) have been identified as flashpoints, and India’s demands had included a return to status quo ante, and the retreat of Chinese troops occupying Indian patrol areas, along with tents, vehicles and equipment. “While it was our expectation that this would unfold smoothly, the Chinese side departed from the consensus to respect the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Galwan Valley,” the MEA said. “On the late evening and night of 15th June 2020 a violent face-off happened as a result of an attempt by the Chinese side to unilaterally change the status quo there. Both sides suffered casualties that could have been avoided had the agreement at the higher level been scrupulously followed by the Chinese side,” it added. The MEA also said that all Indian activities were on its side of the LAC, and it expected “the same of China.” While talks were held at the area of the Galwan valley clash to defuse tensions on Tuesday, it is unclear if further diplomatic talks are planned in the aftermath of the violent incident, where the casualty figures are expected to rise. While External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is due to attend a meeting of Foreign Ministers of Russia, India and China (RIC grouping) on Monday, MEA officials would not confirm if the meeting will go ahead.

Speaking about talks, the MEA said India remains “firmly convinced of the need for the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas and the resolution of differences through dialogue.” “At the same time, we are also strongly committed to ensuring India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Ministry added.

With inputs from The Hindu

As many as 2027 ceasefire violations by Pakistan have taken place along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir till June 10 this year, news agency PTI reported quoting officials.

New Delhi: Pakistan violated ceasefire along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir by firing mortar shells towards Indian positions, the Army said. The latest violation took place in the Naugam Sector on Tuesday night.

“On 16 June 2020, in the late evening hours, Pakistan initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation (CFV) along the LoC in Naugam Sector by firing mortars and other weapons,” the defence spokesman was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

He said Indian Army strongly retaliated to Pakistan’s unprovoked firing.

There were no casualties reported in the incident, the spokesman added.

There has been a steady increase in ceasefire violation by the Pakistan in the recent months.

As many as 2027 ceasefire violations by Pakistan have taken place along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir till June 10 this year, news agency PTI reported quoting officials.

The increased violations are being viewed by senior security officials as an attempt by Pakistan to provide fire cover to terrorists sneaking from across the border.

The ceasefire violations comes a day after Indian and Chinese troops were involved in a violent face-off in Ladakh. A Colonel and two army officers were among the 20 soldiers who were killed in the clash after “an attempt by the Chinese side to unilaterally change the status quo there”.

News agency ANI claimed that sources had confirmed 43 Chinese soldiers have been killed or seriously injured because of intercepts, though the army’s statement did not refer to this.

With inputs from NDTV

The turn of events on Monday night along the Line of Actual Control took the top brass by surprise.

New Delhi: The government has given powers to the armed forces to make emergency procurements to stock up its war reserves in the wake of escalating conflict with China along the Line of Actual Control.
While India has initiated dialogue to contain the conflict in Ladakh, sources said, the government did not want to leave anything to chance at this stage, especially after the violence on Monday night.

ET has learnt that Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat has been asked to coordinate with the three services on prioritising the requirements, where necessary.
Those familiar with the details told ET that the Navy has also been given the go-ahead to deploy its assets near the Malacca Strait and, if needed, anywhere else in the Indo-Pacific to counter Chinese action.

Air Force assets, including fighters, too have been moved up to forward locations. The first signs of discomfort in the Indian camp started when the Chinese side a few days ago began pressing hard for another round of Corps Commander-level meeting to kickstart talks on the Pangong Tso.

The PLA even moved a request for a Corps Commander-level meeting on June 16. The Indian side, however, declined and had conveyed to their Chinese interlocutors that a higher-level meeting would only be possible after complete disengagement from Galwan.

This decision was taken at the highest levels, added sources. The issue on the table from an Indian standpoint were two semi-permanent structures with tents on PP (Patrolling Point) 14 in Galwan.
The Chinese troops had moved back some distance following local commander-level talks but had refused to remove these structures. At PP 17, China had apparently raised objection to some Indian hutments.
In the recent past, sources said, Chinese troops have acted in a pattern where they move up, build tented structures and then move back after talks without demolishing what they had made.
It’s learnt that this was flagged off by the Army as a way to make reoccupation easier at these heights. However, pending resolution of these issues on Galwan, China was keen to start conversation on Finger areas of Pangong Tso.
At that stage, sources said, a high-level meeting took place in Delhi last Friday where it was decided that India will insist on complete resolution of dispute in Galwan before moving on to Pangong Tso
The turn of events on Monday night took the top brass by surprise. South Block was, in fact, gearing up for a more protracted conversation on getting Chinese troops to move back from Finger 4 in Pangong Tso. It was felt that Chinese PLA would be more belligerent there as it had moved into advantageous ground.

With inputs from ET Bureau

Srinagar: A 65 year man from south Kashmir’s Shopian district, died at SKIMS Hospital Srinagar on Wednesday morning taking the disease toll in J&K to 64, officials said.

Dr Farooq Jan medical superintendent at SKIMS confirmed to news agency KINS about the fresh COVID-19 death said one COVID positive 65 year old from Feripora Shopain was admitted on 15 June with complains of fewer, shortness of breathe with a diagnosis of acute exacerbation of copd. The doctor said Patient was on non invasive ventilator and died today morning.

J&K has so far reported 64 Covid-19 deaths comprising 57 in Kashmir and seven in Jammu region.(KINS)

New report urges Indian government to end torture and arbitrary arrests of minors

Srinagar: UN chief Antonio Guterres has expressed concern over the child casualties taking place in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir region in military operations.

In a report released on Monday, he called upon the Indian government to take preventive measures to protect the children by ending the usage of pellet guns, while also showing concern over the detention of children including their arrest during night raids, internment at army camps, torture in detention and detention without charge or due process.

The UN chief urged the Indian government to immediately end this practice showing concern that 68 children in the region have been detained by Indian security forces on national security charges.

The report, Children and Armed Conflict, said that the UN has verified over 25,000 grave violations against children globally from January to December 2019, stressing the children face continued unabated ‘tragedy’ throughout the year.

With respect to Jammu and Kashmir region, the report said that the UN verified the killing of eight children and maiming of seven, by or during joint operations of the Central Reserve Police Force, the Indian Army (Rashtriya Rifles) and the Special Operations Group of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, unidentified armed elements, or during shelling across the Line of Control.

The UN also verified attacks on nine schools in Jammu and Kashmir by “unidentified elements”, the report said.

In the report, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba also said that boys and girls used and abused in armed conflict in the world have had their childhoods replaced by “pain, brutality and fear while the world watches.”

Violence has to be halted

Many children’s rights activists in the region have welcomed the UN report but called for an immediate halt of violence in the region which is affecting the children.

Musavir Manzoor, a children’s rights activist and a research scholar in the region, told Anadolu Agency that there has been a spike in violence against children since 2008 when civil agitation began in the region.

“The exposure to detention centers, police lock-ups, courts and in particular to the ongoing situational changes has made these children suffer in isolation and in trauma,” Manzoor said.

Earlier in March, the UN had also called for a global cease-fire in view of the current pandemic crisis but the Indian-administered Kashmir has seen a high number of casualties because of violence rather than the pandemic.

With inputs from AA News

The revocation of Article 370 unwittingly gave Beijing a new weapon.

By: Anik Joshi

The Kashmir Valley and its surrounding territory have been at the heart of nearly every conflict between India and Pakistan—including three wars in 1947, 1965, and 1999. Colonialism created the problem, but the great powers have had little interest in it, with Britain washing its hands of the issue as soon as it could. But last year’s abolition of Article 370, the guarantee of Kashmir’s quasi-autonomy, has allowed an old player to take a stronger role: China.

China’s Himalayan ambitions have become the subject of global concern after this week’s bloody clash with the Indian Army, but its involvement in Indian territory goes beyond its own borders. Generations of Indian politicians have declared Kashmir a purely domestic issue. The roots of the problem go back to the state’s origins, a Muslim-majority population with a Hindu ruler who, during the retreat of empire, initially tried to strike out on his own rather than being forced to pick sides between Indian and Pakistan. But for Pakistan, a nation founded on the idea that it was a homeland for Muslims, losing a Muslim-majority state would be catastrophic. To India, the idea of a Muslim state with a Hindu leader would be an ideal feather in the cap—a nation founded on pluralism with a state perfectly exemplifying it. The resulting war left the state in India’s control—but with a permanently unhappy population and an angry neighbor.

Despite India’s victory, the issue was far from resolved. Despite the laments of Indian politicians, Kashmir has been an international issue almost since 1947. Around 10 years after the first war was fought, in 1957, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s right-hand man, V.K. Krishna Menon, gave the longest speech in United Nations history on India’s position on Kashmir. He argued that India had a legal claim to complete sovereignty of Kashmir and that international institutions like the International Court of Justice had no place adjudicating the question. Menon’s speech, and the underlying ideals, were supported by much of India, and he was dubbed the Hero of Kashmir.

Issues, once internationalized, rarely return to being solely domestic or even bilateral concerns. The idea that Kashmir could be purely an Indian question was always a fantasy. Yet Indian leaders were always keen to avoid the state turning into another Palestine. Though they did not fully succeed in the sense that Kashmir is occasionally invoked at the U.N., they did partially succeed in the sense that the issue was never as big as Palestine in much of the public and political conscience.

Issues, once internationalised, rarely return to being solely domestic or even bilateral concerns.

Pakistan, however, felt very differently—and was keen to internationalize the issue. The obvious ally was China, with which Pakistan has a long-standing friendly relationship. In 1963, the Sino-Pakistan Agreement, which was meant to address border issues between the two nations, successfully quelled certain disagreements between Islamabad and Beijing—but also drew China even further into the Kashmir question. The agreement resulted in the two nations exchanging territory, and within the parcels given up by Pakistan was the Trans-Karakoram Tract. The tract is famously inhospitable but is also disputed territory, and India argued that Pakistan had no right to give it up to the Chinese because India itself still claims it.

It was no surprise that Pakistan solidified relationships with China in 1963. India fought an ill-fated war with China the previous year that permanently damaged the idea of Sino-Indian brotherhood, and Pakistan saw an opportunity to make common cause with an Asian ally. Turning a bilateral dispute into a trilateral one, with two of the sides strongly allied, was an obvious move.

That decision has borne fruit, not least because of India’s own actions. Ending Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, on the autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir, has been a longtime goal for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in India, and the party won two successive landslide victories in 2014 and 2019 partially based on its stance on this issue. In August 2019, the Indian parliament voted to abrogate Article 370. That autonomy had always been somewhat illusory, but it was powerfully regarded within Kashmir—and India accompanied the change with a mass crackdown in the region, including cutting off the internet and arresting local politicians. The bill didn’t stop there. It also bifurcated the territory into two states—Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh—further cementing India’s control.

Pakistan erupted in anger. Prime Minister Imran Khan denounced the action as an attack on minorities despite his and Pakistan’s own questionable record on this issue. The Pakistani public has long been highly sympathetic to the oppression of Kashmiris, which receives massive coverage in the Pakistani press. But integrating the Kashmir region further into India also presents issues from a military perspective—Kashmir existed as a buffer zone of sorts in a way that the two new union states might not.

That gave China a strong interest in the issue, too. China agreed with its ally both for diplomatic reasons and for domestic ones. Part of the new territory of Ladakh contains land that Pakistan gave to China in the agreement in 1963. China sees both the abrogation of the article and the formation of the new state as a kind of aggressiveness, which is one reason for its own assertive moves on the Chinese-Indian border in the last few weeks.

In recent days, China has demanded in foreign-policy talks with India the revocation of the new legislation creating Ladakh. This is a different way of objecting to the revocation of Article 370 as a whole, and the move benefits China on multiple fronts. It allows it to strengthen its alliance with Pakistan at very little personal cost. But, perhaps more importantly, it allows Beijing to seek a protective cover of sorts for its actions in Xinjiang.

China has faced criticism from around the world over its treatment of Uighur minorities in the Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang, and several countries, including the United States, have passed legislation addressing this critical issue. Xinjiang threatens to become a permanent stain on China’s image in the Muslim world. Adopting Pakistan’s stance on Kashmir and Article 370 is a cynical way to address these anti-Muslim claims, allowing China to, to an extent, deflect from its domestic misdeeds. By pointing to issues within India and New Delhi’s mistreatment of Muslims, China is able to divert scrutiny from its own crackdown on religion, separation of children from their parents, forced labor, and mass internment of minorities. Its foothold in Kashmir issues has served as a useful distraction.

China’s outrage over Article 370 has nothing to do with Muslim rights and everything to do with an aggressive attempt to expand its influence and territory. Pakistan and China both have horrific human rights records of their own, which suggests any criticism might be less than sincere. That being said, the Indian government should be cautious of handing grenades to enemies who will be more than happy to pull the pin and throw them.

Anik Joshi is a public policy professional in Washington D.C.

With inputs from FP

PTI

Jammu: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday filed a charge sheet against a government official in a case of corruption in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir.

An ACB spokesman said the charge sheet was filed in the court of special judge against Mohammad Rashid Khan, the then Senior Compiler posted in the office of Chief Accounts Officer, General Provident (GP) Fund, Rajouri.

He said Khan was arrested in 2017 after he was caught red-handed while allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 10,000 from Hari Singh, the complainant in the case for finalizing and clearing his GP Fund case.

The next hearing in the case has been fixed for August 17, the spokesman said.

Anantnag: In an example of blatant negligence, authorities in Pulwama allowed all inmates to go home from the quarantine centre despite two samples for COVID-19 testing were missing.

A Kachipora Pulwama youth returned from Pune on May 24. He was kept in a quarantine centre along with several people at Islamic University of Science and Technology Awantipora for 11 days.

“I was then told my test is negative and was allowed to go home like others. I was with my family members for three days before officials told him I have to come again for sampling as two samples had gone missing. Then my sample was collected which tested positive,” he told news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS).

He said all his eight family members have got infected. One-year-old baby has also been infected. “This is all because of negligence of the authorities who allowed everyone to go home from quarantine centre despite two samples were missing.

Among two people whose samples were missing, one was tested positive. We caught the infection there because we were using one washroom and many were put up in one room,” he claimed.

CMO Pulwama Dr Haseena when contacted said that she has no information in this regard. “I don’t have any information. I will confirm it from my BMO then I can comment on it,” she told KINS.

BMO Pampore said he will seek details from concerned medical officer.

“I will get the details then only make comments,” the BMO said.
This is not an isolated case; there are many incidents when COVID-19 positive cases were sent home, risking the lives of their families.

One of the cases of alleged negligence came to the fore in Baramulla when a patient was declared positive for novel coronavirus. However a day after he was allowed to go home by administration after testing “negative” for COVID-19 and was later told he is positive.

In another case, a 40-year-old man who was kept under official quarantine at Baramulla town was discharged after being declared negative for COVID-19. Then he was told by the administration to immediately return to the quarantine facility citing that his test has come positive for the same disease.

In another case a person from Handwara was discharged from a COVID-19 quarantine centre after declaring him negative for the disease. However, the officials rushed to put him in isolation after his test reports came positive for the deadly disease.

“These cases are typical examples of official negligence which has put lives of many others in the quarantine centre at risk in addition to the family members of these people,” opined a doctor on the condition of anonymity. (KINS)