The Indian Army feels further flag meetings will not be fruitful to persuade China to withdraw its troops from the Indian territory in ladakh and the matter can be resolved only through political and diplomatic initiatives.
Army Chief General Bikram Singh gave this opinion to Defence Minister AK Antony on Thursday when he briefed the Minister on the Chinese incursion more than 18 kilometre into Depsang Valley, ladakh.
The Government has asked the Army not to adopt aggressive posture at the face-off location. The Army has been also asked not to disrupt logistical lines for the Chinese troops who have set up tented post 18 kms inside Indian territory.
The Chinese troops numbering about 50 have set up a tented post there and an equal number of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and ladakh Scouts have also taken position 200 metres opposite the Chinese.
Sources said India will increase the number of its troops if the Chinese People’s liberation Army (PlA) enhances the strength of its soldiers in the Indian territory of Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector in eastern ladakh.
Taking a defensive posture, the Army directed the local commanders to allow the vehicles to come to the tented post to supply water, food and other requirements. The Chinese troops so far have not got their stocks replenished as the Indian side has not seen any vehicle movement. The troops have been and remain confined to their position. The local commanders have held two meetings in the last ten days but no breakthrough came about.
While India insisted that the Chinese troops return to their original positions across the line of Actual Control (lAC), the Chinese claimed that the Indian security forces were carrying out aggressive patrolling in the region and had built bunkers.
The Army’s advice about the futility of holding further flag meetings came amidst reports of another such exercise on Friday. There were no indications now that the meeting will take place in the near future, sources said.
The Army Chief gave his inputs to the Defence Minister after reviewing the situation in Jammu & Kashmir and the ladakh area with military commanders in the Northern Command over the last two days during his visit to Jammu and Srinagar.
Similar situation assessment report was given to the China Study Group, which is handing the present situation in ladakh, sources said adding any major decision will only be taken only at the advice of the Group comprising Foreign Secretary, Defence Secretary and Home Secretary besides heads of the Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
The China Study Group is handling the issue in consultation with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the Defence Ministry. A Committee of Secretaries headed by the Cabinet Secretary and comprising Defence, Home and Finance also discussed the situation and contingency plan to defuse the emergent crisis.
The meeting also discussed intelligence failure and possible lack of coordination between agencies that allowed the Chinese troops to penetrate 18 km into Indian territory. Following the meeting of the committee of secretaries, a presentation was also made on the issue in the Prime Minister’s Office, sources said.
Meanwhile, China maintained that its troops or helicopters have not caused any “provocation” by violating the lAC in ladakh and said the incident will not affect bilateral ties or disrupt peace at the borders as both sides are trying to resolve it in a friendly manner.
“I do not agree with your allegation that it is the Chinese side that has caused the provocation between the border troops” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in Beijing while replying to questions about the intrusion of Chinese troops in ladakh.
“China’s troops have never crossed the (lAC) line. China and India are neighbours and the boundary is not demarcated yet. It is inevitable for problems to prop up in border areas. When there is a problem it should be resolved through friendly consultations through existing mechanisms and channels”, she said.
Urging the media to be patient, Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, “We also believe that the two sides continue to solve the issue in a friendly manner and we will not let the issue affect border peace and security and normal development of China-India relations.”
In New Delhi, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said he would visit China on May 9 and expressed confidence that India and China will be able to resolve the situation arising after the incursion. Khurshid’s trip comes ahead of the visit by newly-elected Chinese Premier li Keqiang to India later next month.
Noting that there was a working mechanism between the two countries to deal with issues like border transgressions, Khurshid said “let us allow that mechanism to find its solution and repeatedly it has found. And we have good reasons to believe that it should be able to do it again.”