Lack of clarity on standoff sparks outrage

• Tell the nation more on stand-off: Antony

• RSS affiliate renews 'boycott China' call

• BJP MP appeals to people to support armed forces

• Shocking, unbelievable, unacceptable: Cong

• Punjab CM for strong response to intrusions

• How escalated the situation must be: Omar 

Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi/ Srinagar: Former Defence Minister A.K. Antony on Tuesday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to tell the nation on the stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops in Ladakh and said "there is more to it than India building a road".

"The Prime Minister and the Defence Minister should say more on what has happened as there is more to it than India building a road and China has other motives. There are limitations to what I can say more, as I am a former Defence Minister. Let them say it," remarked the senior Congress leader, who has been the longest-serving Defence Minister in the country.

"I am also eagerly waiting to hear what the Centre has to say. For the past few weeks, in certain sensitive areas in Ladakh, the Chinese forces have advanced and are stationed there now. The two countries should settle this amicably," Antony added.

Antony was the Defence Minister from 2006 to 2014 in the first and second UPA governments led by Manmohan Singh.

Former Indian diplomat T.P. Sreenivasan, who hails from the state capital, said one will have to wait and see what China is up to in the post-Covid times.

"This time, one can sense a feel of arrogance in the way China has behaved. It's said that no firing has taken place; if so, how come so many casualties? Will have to wait and see what they are up to as in the post-Covid times, USA is helpless and China may be using this as an opportunity to stamp their authority. In Taiwan and Hong Kong, they did it. Now, we have reported loss of lives; so let us wait and see," Sreenivasan said.

BJP MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar came out strongly against the death of an Indian Army officer and two soldiers in a violent face-off with Chinese troops and appealed to people to support the armed forces.

In a series of tweets, Chandrasekhar, who is a former member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence, hit out at China and the Communist Party of China over the incident.

The BJP Rajya Sabha member called upon people to "get behind the men and women in our armed forces and support them strongly, unitedly and patiently."

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the border matter with China in Galwan Valley, saying 'why he is hesitating to show red-eye to China in Ladakh'?

"Double faced politics. Modi Ji used to accuse the UPA for not showing red eye to China when it crosses LAC. Modi ji, now why are you hesitating to show red-eye to China in Ladakh?," he tweeted.

"And when Nepal is showing you red-eye then why do you now want to have a dialogue. Where is your 56-inch chest?."

After India announced that it sustained three casualties in the Ladakh region during the India-China faceoff, RSS affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch renewed the demand for an economic boycott of China and Chinese products as well as rekindled the demand to return Tibet to the Tibetans.

The outfit's national co-convenor Ashwani Mahajan said: "This is an eye opener for those who argue that there has been no exchange of fire, so we should engage economically with China, say in trade and investment."

Earlier, the SJM asked for Indian firms instead of Chinese giants in the Delhi-Meerut RRTS project as well as claiming that it goes against the very essence of 'Make in India'.

Mahajan also took to Twitter to raise the demand that Tibet be returned to the Tibetans to maintain peace in the region.

Expressing anger over the violent clashes in Ladakh's Galwan Valley , Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, here on Tuesday, called for a strong response to the repeated violations of the Indian territory by China.

"Our soldiers are not fair game that every few days officers and men should be killed or injured defending borders," Singh said reacting to the development on border, which came even as the armies on the two sides were supposed to be in the process of disengagement from the past several days' stand-off.

The Congress has termed "shocking" the news of killing of three Indian soldiers including an officer by Chinese sides at the Line of Actual Control in Galwan Valley.

Congress Chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, "Shocking, Unbelievable & Unacceptable! Will the Raksha Mantri confirm?"

The Congress has been raising the issue and demanded clarity on it. "Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi had also questioned about the stand-off but we're snubbed by the government," he said.

An Indian Army Colonel, the Commanding Officer of an infantry battalion, and two soldiers were killed during a clash with Chinese troops at one of the stand-off points in the Galwan Valley on Monday night.

Indian Army in a statement said that during the de-escalation process which is underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place on Monday night with casualties. "The loss of lives on the Indian side includes an officer and two soldiers," Indian Army said.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah expressed shock at the level of escalation at the situation on the Line of Actual Control.

Abdullah said: "If the Chinese shoot dead an Indian army colonel and two jawans during a 'de-escalation process' imagine how escalated the situation must be in the first place.

"Since heard no shooting took place. The deaths were the result of violent scuffles and stone pelting. Regardless of the how & the way three Indian army personnel were killed by the Chinese in the line of duty," Abdullah added.

THE LAST FIRING WAS IN 1975

Four Indian soldiers died when a patrol of Assam Rifles jawans was ambushed at Tulung La in Arunachal Pradesh in 1975. The 1967 clash between India and China is often remembered as the last shot fired on the India-China border. That clash in Sikkim, where India got the better of China just five years after defeat in the 1962 war, saw more than 80 Indian soldiers killed while estimates say 400 Chinese soldiers may have been killed.