INDIA HAS not misplaced even “an inch of land” to China throughout the standoff in jap Ladakh that started in May 2020, Army Chief General M M Naravane stated on Tuesday.
“We have not lost out on any territory, we are where we were before this whole thing started… Not an inch of land has been lost,” General Naravane was quoted by ANI information company as saying in an interview.
The Army Chief stated after the ninth spherical of talks between Corps Commanders on January 24, “we agreed for phased disengagement from friction areas” and “10th February onwards disengagement started and went as per plan, from north and south banks of Pangong Tso and Kailash Range”. He stated “people have gone back to their nearest permanent locations”.
“Thereby the face-to-face deployment which was there and because of which there could have been chances of miscalculation has now receded. Now there is relative peace and tranquility in the LAC,” he stated.
Senior navy commanders met for the tenth spherical of talks on February 20 to debate disengagement from different friction factors and eventual de-escalation, however there has not been any progress.
On the state of affairs with Pakistan, within the wake of the latest joint assertion by Directors General of Military Operation and Indian and Pakistani armies to stick to the ceasefire settlement, Naravane stated, “Terror camps and infrastructure still exist on other side of LoC.”
“For terrorism to come down, the camps have to get dismantled,” he stated, including that it’s “only when snow melts will we come to know how serious Pakistan is about dismantling terror infrastructure for putting people across”.
