PM Meets NSA Ajit Doval, Chief Of Defence Staff, Three Service Chiefs Over LAC

NEW DELHI: Amid the ongoing stand-off at the Line of Actual Control at eastern Ladakh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday met National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and the three service chiefs over the issue. Details of the meet are awaited.

Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged in a tense stand-off in Pangong Tso and the Galwan Valley along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh.

The meeting follows another meet that was held earlier between the Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and the PM.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday had earlier met Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and the Service Chiefs of the Army, Navy and the Air force and held elaborate meeting.

Top Army commanders are also set to begin a three-day conference on Wednesday where an in-depth review of the situation in Eastern Ladakh will be discussed, alongside a discussion on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. While no bullets have been fired yet, scuffles between forces of both countries took place on May 5 and May 9 near Pangong Tso and in Sikkim respectively.

Rajnath Singh has conveyed to top military brass in the meet that there was no need for reviewing the implementation of any of the key projects along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand or in Arunachal Pradesh in view of the aggressive behaviour by Chinese troops in several sensitive areas, a news agency reported.

In view of the nearly 20-day standoff between the two sides, the Indian Army has significantly ramped up its presence in sensitive border areas in North Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh besides Ladakh to send across a message that India will not be wilting under any aggressive military posturing by China, the agency's sources said.

The tensions remind of the 73-day stand-off in the Doklam tri-junction between India, China and Bhutan in 2017.

The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long LAC. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet while India contests it. Both sides have been asserting that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it is necessary to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas.

(With inputs from PTI)

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