Having held eight rounds of military level talks to end the stalemate at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh with little progress, Army Chief General M M Naravane said here on Tuesday “we are hopeful that we will be able to reach an agreement which is mutually acceptable and mutually beneficial.”
His observations came days after the Corps Commanders of India and China held the eighth round of parleys at Chushul, Ladakh on November 6. Both the sides reaffirmed their resolve to continue the dialogue to ensure peace and tranquility at the LAC.
Naravane said the senior military commanders of India and China are “ironing out the modalities” of how to proceed ahead and we are very hopeful that we will be able to reach an agreement which is mutually acceptable and mutually beneficial. He also said there was no shortage of extreme weather clothing or equipment for troops deployed on the frontline.
“We had the 8th round of talks on November 6 between the highest military level commanders on both sides. They are ironing out the modalities of how to proceed ahead within the overarching guidelines which had been communication post the interactions and the meetings between the respective Ministers (defence and foreign),” the Army chief said at the Defence Attaches conclave organised by news portal Bharat Shakti.
“It was discussed by the defence ministers that it has to be an overall solution to the entire issue which brought this situation to the fore. Within those guidelines we are discussing how to actually achieve it on the ground,” he said.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held talks with his Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe on September 4 in Moscow on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) defence ministers meeting.
On September 10, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow where they agreed on a five point plan for disengagement and de-escalation along the disputed boundary in Ladakh where the standoff has been ongoing since early May.
The Army Chief’s remarks came in the backdrop of reports that China was now ready for discussing withdrawal of its troops from all the friction points. Earlier, it was resisting this assertion by India and instead wanted the Indian army to first pull back from the strategic heights in the south and north banks of the Pangong Tso(lake).
Moreover, the two sides during the eighth round of talks also favoured withdrawing tanks and heavy weapons from operational areas close to the LAC as a confidence building measure.
Reacting to reports about shortage of winter clothing for the troops as the Army prepares for a long haul in Ladakh and deployed during the harsh cold weather, the Army chief said “There is no shortage whatsoever of any kind. All the troops are equipped with the latest equipment and newest of clothing, equipment and weapons they require...”
He said equipment is catered for a certain number of troops at any point of time. Naravane also said the situation which developed required them to deploy additional troops and it is for these additional troops that they “had to go in for certain emergency procurements.”
Naravane said over the years they have been going for indigenous suppliers and out of the extreme weather clothing and equipment, of some 10-12 items, six are already done by local suppliers and contract for another four is also being done by Indian
suppliers. The contract has been signed in July and the first supplies will start by January or February next year, he said.
On the Army’s Advanced Winter Stocking, the Army Chief said during the summer months, fair deal of stocking always takes place to cater for road closure period for six month from November to May. “This is a process we do year on year and it is a quite a well established procedure. We just had to ramp it up to cater to the additional numbers which were there,” he said.