Visit comes amid high tensions on South Bank of Pangong Tso; Army Chief in Leh to review situation
Amid high tensions on the South Bank of Pangong Tso (lake) in Ladakh and high operational alert by the Army and the Indian Air Force (IAF), Army Chief Gen. Manoj Naravane arrived in Leh on Thursday, while Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria, visited front line air bases in the Eastern Air Command (EAC) a day before.
And at Chushul, Brigadier-level talks between India and China continued for the fourth day in an attempt to de-escalate tensions. The talks resumed at 11 a.m. after the discussions in the last three days remained inconclusive. “The talks are going on but we must not expect much from them”, another source said.
The Army Chief is on a two-day visit to Leh to review the operational preparedness in the Ladakh region following recent developments, an Army source said.
The IAF said in a statement, “On arrival at the bases in EAC on Wednesday, the CAS was received by respective Air Officers Commanding who apprised him of the readiness state and operational preparedness of the combat units under their command.”
Pre-emptive move
In a pre-emptive move on August 29 and 30, the Army occupied some unoccupied heights in the Chushul sector from Thakung to Rechin La within the Indian perception of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to foil the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) attempts to dominate the heights.
The Army had stated that PLA troops carried out aggressive moves on the night of August 29 to change the status quo on the South Bank and those have been thwarted.
In the talks, China demanded that India withdraw troops from these heights but it was rejected. On the North Bank, Chinese troops continue to occupy the ridgelines of Finger 4 in addition to the heavy build-up of defences between Finger 8 to Finger 4.
With inputs from The Hindu
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