Ahead of talks, Army Chief says India will not pull back troops as long as China does not withdraw build-up along LAC

Gen Naravane says if stand-off continues, situation along India’s LAC with China may become similar to that prevailing along India’s LoC with Pakistan

Army Chief General M M Naravane, on Saturday, said that India was ready for a long haul if the People’s Liberation Army of China continued with its large-scale build-up along the Line of Actual Control between the two nations in eastern Ladakh.

“We are keeping a close watch on the developments. But if they are there to stay, we are there to stay too,” Gen Naravane said, just ahead of yet another round of negotiations between the senior military commanders of the two nations to resolve the 18-month-long military stand-off between the countries.

The Indian Army chief also said that the continuing large-scale build-up by the Chinese PLA along the LAC remained “a matter of concern”.

Also Read | Made some progress; but larger problem remains: Jaishankar on eastern Ladakh row

Lt. Gen. P G K Menon, the commander of the XIV Corps of the Indian Army, is scheduled to meet his counterpart in the South Xinjiang Military District of the Chinese PLA, Maj Gen Liu Lin, at Chushul-Moldo point on the LAC on Sunday for the 13th round of negotiations to resolve the stand-off between the two nations.

The two sides are likely to discuss terms for a mutual withdrawal of the front-line troops from the Patrol Point 15 – one of the LAC points, where the face-off was still continuing despite disengagement on both banks of Pangong Tso (lake) and Gogra Post earlier this year.

“It is a matter of concern that the large-scale build-up (by the PLA) that occurred last year (when the stand-off started) continues to be in place,” the Chief of Army Staff said while speaking at an event. “To sustain that kind of build-up, there has been an equal amount of infrastructure development on the Chinese side. It means that they (the PLA troops) are there to stay.”

Also Read | Border incidents with China will continue till boundary agreement is reached: General Naravane

He articulated New Delhi’s concerns even as incursion attempts by the PLA soldiers in Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh in the recent weeks fuelled speculations about the possibility of the stand-off along the LAC in the western sector of the disputed boundary between the two nations spreading to the middle and eastern sectors too.

Gen Naravane said that the situation along the LAC – the de facto boundary between India and China in the western sector – could become somewhat like that along the Line of Control (LoC) – the disputed stretch of the India-Pakistan border – if the Chinese PLA continued with its large-scale deployment in eastern Ladakh.

“If they (the PLA) continue to stay there for the second winter, it will definitely mean we will be in an LoC kind of situation, though not an active LoC as is there on the western front,” he said, adding, “We will have to keep a close eye on PLA troop build-up and deployments to ensure they don’t get into any misadventure once again.”

Also Read | India matching Chinese troop build-up on disputed border: Army chief Naravane

Whatever was China’s intention in deploying such a large number of troops along its LAC with India, it did not succeed due to rapid response by the Indian Army, he said.

The army chief said that Pakistan’s armed forces had of late violated the ceasefire along the LoC with India thrice and renewed attempts to infiltrate terrorists from Pakistan to India across the LoC had also been noticed.

The Indian Army and the Pakistan Army had on February 25 this year agreed to strictly adhere to the 2003 ceasefire pact and avoid firing at each other across the LoC. The Indian Army chief said that the Pakistan Army had adhered to the agreement till July, but had now started flouting the truce again.

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