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Rajnath reviews border situation
Army given free hand to deal with any aggressive behaviour
New Delhi: Defense Minister Rajnath Singh held a meeting with Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat to review the situation on tension in the Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control.
The three service chiefs -- and the three Service chiefs -- Army chief General MM Naravane, Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh and Air chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria -- also attended the meeting, sources said.
The armed forces deployed along the 3,500-km de-facto border with China have been given "full freedom" in giving "befitting" reply to any Chinese aggressive behaviour, government sources said after Rajnath held a high-level meeting with top military brass on the situation in eastern Ladakh.
The review meeting was held ahead of Singh's visit to Moscow on Monday -- exactly a week after the violence in Ladakh's Galwan Valley in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed and 76 injured. The Defence Minister will attend a grand military parade in Moscow to mark the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Germany in the World War II.
Sources said it was decided at the meeting that India has not increased the tension on the Line of Actual Control -- which acts as the de factor border with China -- but if the other side increases the tension, the country will respond in the same language.
The meeting also reviewed the preparedness of the forces and the situation on the LAC, where tension has been on since April, the sources added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already clarified that the army should take decisions and take whatever action is necessary in view of the ground situation.
The army and the air force have been ramping up their operational capabilities along the LAC to effectively deal with any Chinese manoeuvre.
Indian and Chinese armies have been on a six-week standoff in several areas of eastern Ladakh. The ties between the two countries came under severe strain after Chinese military killed 20 Indian Army personnel and injured around 76 in a violent clash in Galwan Valley on June 15.
China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has not yet talked about the number of casualties it suffered.
The sources said the armed forces have been given full freedom to deal with any act of aggression by China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de-facto border between the two countries.
