Image Source: Image For Representation Only

PM holds late night meet with top 4 ministers, Army chief over Ladakh stand-off

AGENCIES | NEW DELHI

The nation’s high political institution and the Army Chief met late final night time, shortly after the military confirmed that 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a “violent face-off” with Chinese troops at Galwan Valley in Ladakh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Army Chief General MM Naravane have been on the assembly that befell round 10 pm. This was the final in a collection of conferences that befell yesterday as India weighed its response to essentially the gravest escalation on the Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border with China, in 5 a long time.
A wire service quoted sources as saying, primarily based on intercepts, that 43 Chinese troopers have been killed or critically injured, although the military’s assertion didn’t confer with this.
The military had on Tuesday morning confirmed the demise of a Colonel and two jawans and “casualties on both sides”. But in an announcement later, the military added that 17 extra critically injured have been “exposed to sub-zero temperatures… (and) succumbed to their injuries”.
India blamed the clashes on “an attempt by the Chinese side to unilaterally change the status quo there”, rebutting China’s claims that Indian troopers crossed the border.
An Indian military supply within the area advised AFP the incident concerned no taking pictures however “violent hand-to-hand scuffles”. The troopers threw punches and stones at one another and the Chinese troops allegedly used rods and nail-studded golf equipment throughout the struggle that lasted for hours till midnight on Monday, in accordance with stories.
China’s defence ministry confirmed the incident had resulted in casualties however didn’t give particulars.
The United States — which has mounting frictions with China, however sees India as an rising ally — stated it’s hoping for a “peaceful resolution”, and that it was monitoring the scenario carefully.
The UN referred to as for either side to “exercise maximum restraint”.
Beijing claimed Indian troopers “crossed the border line twice… provoking and attacking Chinese personnel, resulting in serious physical confrontation between border forces on the two sides”.
Foreign ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava, rejecting China’s aggressive claims, stated the conflict arose from “an attempt by the Chinese side to unilaterally change the status quo” on the border.
The violence adopted weeks of pressure since May 9, when a number of Indian and Chinese troopers have been injured in a conflict involving fists and stone-throwing at Naku La in Sikkim.
The large escalation befell whereas either side have been in talks to resolve tensions on the border and spoke of “consensus”.
India and China fought a short warfare in 1962 during which China took territory from India. Further lethal clashes adopted in 1967, however the final violent conflict that resulted in deaths was in 1975, when 4 Indian troopers have been ambushed and killed alongside the dividing line in Arunachal Pradesh.
In 2017 there was a 72-day showdown after Chinese forces moved into Doklam plateau on the China-India-Bhutan border. After that PM Modi and Chinese chief Xi Jinping held two summits.