In the first event of bloodshed along the LAC in 45 years, a violent clash took place between the Indian, Chinese armies on Tuesday. Tensions between India and China over the LAC escalated after 20 Indian soldiers were killed. Casualties were also reported on the Chinese side. The troops disengaged after day-long talks between the Major Generals of two countries.
Among the 20 Indian soldiers, a Commanding Officer of an infantry battalion was martyred on Monday night in a "violent face-off" with China's PLA troops disrupting the fragile peace prevailing along India's disputed border with China.
The stand-off between the two nations at the borders has been in news for quite some time, but the recent clash has intensified it further. Here are 10 things you should know about the India-China standoff in Galwan Valley:
1. Army officials said Indian and Chinese troops had clashed on the night of June 15 and 16 leading to casualties on both sides. As many as 20 Indian soldiers including the Commanding Officer of an infantry battalion of Indian Army were martyred on Monday night, while ANI claimed, quoting military intercepts shared by the government, that there were 43 Chinese casualties.
2. Army sources said there was no firing during the entire incident, suggesting that the casualties happened as a result of hand to hand combat.
3. Following day-long meetings at the Major General level between the two armies, the troops were disengaged from the Galwan area, Army officials said.
4. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the current operational situation in Eastern Ladakh, consequent to Monday's violent faceoff olong the LAC, with the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and the three service Chiefs. A second high-level meeting took place in the evening at the Prime Minister's Office to take stock of the situation.
5. In an aggressive statement, a spokesperson of People's Liberation Army's Western War Zone claimed sovereignty on the Galwan Valley and asserted that Indian troops "violated their commitments by crossing the LAC to carry out illegal activities."
6. For decades, the Indian position has been that since 1962, Galwan valley was never contested as the area is within Indian territory. "Indian Army is firmly committed to protecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the nation," the Army said in a statement.
7. This is for the first time, Indian soldiers were killed along the Line of Actual Control in 45 years. It was in 1975 last when such a tragedy struck India as four soldiers were ambushed by the PLA troops in Arunachal Pradesh.
8. For more than a month troops from India and China were locked in a tense face-off at several locations in eastern Ladakh near the disputed border as well as in North Sikkim. On May 5, the CO of 11 Mahar regiment was badly injured in a skirmish with the PLA troops on the LAC, leading to a month-long face-off between the border guarding troops from both sides.
9. Following a meeting between top military leaders on June 6, the disengagement process was initiated in the Galwan valley but soldiers continue to be in a face-off on the northern banks of the Pangong Tso, which remains a bone of contention between the two countries for decades.
Also read — What made China covet Galwan Valley again after six decades
10. What renewed China’s interests in Galwan Valley after almost six decades was India’s August 5, 2019 move to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and reorganize the state into two Union Territories. China joined Pakistan in opposing the initiative by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, not only as a mark of solidarity with its “iron brother”, but also because it was worried over the implication of the New Delhi’s move on its own boundary dispute with India.
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