India and China have now held three rounds of Corp Commander talks, but it’s now clear that the stand-off is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. On Tuesday, Lieutenant General Harinder Singh and Major General Liu Lin held talks for almost eleven hours. Sources privy to the talks held at Chushul on the Indian said, that the Indian army is now preparing for a long haul, leading up to winter.
“Both sides have emphasised the need for an expeditious, phased and step wise de-escalation as a priority”, said a defence official. The official also said that more meetings are expected both at military and diplomatic levels to arrive at a mutually agreeable solution to ensure peace.
CNBC-TV18 has learnt that both sides discussed procedures and mechanisms for disengagement but so far there has been no reduction in troops at the LAC. During the talks, India raised Chinese transgressions specifically in Galwan, Gogra-Hot Springs and Pangong Tso areas. The Indian military officials also flagged Chinese troop concentration along the LAC, deployment of weapon systems and construction on the Chinese side. “Disengagement talks likely to be long-drawn, complex and tedious”, said official requesting anonymity.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to visit Ladakh on Friday to meet top commanders and review the situation along the Line of Actual Control.
“We have been operating in winters for many years, also in areas like Siachen which are more challenging. Even if we have to remain alert at the LAC in winters, the capacity, capability and the logistics exist”, said Lieutenant General DS Hooda, Former GOC-in-C for the Northern Command. Hooda also said there is hardly any possibility of a full-blown conflict but the prospects of a limited conflict cannot be ruled out.
While Indian defence forces are matching Chinese deployments at the LAC, the India-Pakistan border is witnessing a massive rise in ceasefire violations too. More than 2100 ceasefire violations have already been reported at the LOC this year compared to 3200 in 2019. There have been 5-6 terrorist infiltration attempts in May and the Indian army has carried out 24 counter-terror operations in the last one month.
With inputs from CNBC-TV18