The Army on Tuesday paid homage to 20 of its personnel, including the commanding officer, who died fighting the Chinese troops in the Galwan valley in Eastern Ladakh on June 15 a year ago. More than 40 Chinese soldiers also died in the clash but Beijing is yet to confirm the casualties
In a related development, a statue of the deceased commanding officer, Colonel Santosh Babu of the 16 Bihar Regiment, was unveiled at Suryapet in Telangana by Minister KT Rama Rao on the first anniversary of the clashes. Colonel Babu was from Suryapet, about 140 km from the state capital Hyderabad.
The clash was one of the most serious ones at the Line of Actual Control(LAC) in the last 45 years. It took place during the stand-off in the valley. In fact, a series of face-offs started in May last year starting from the Pangong Tso(lake) and soon broke out in some other places.
While the two armies disengaged from the southern and northern banks of the Pangong Lake in February this year, face-offs still continue for more than a year at Hot Springs, Gogra and the Depsang valley.
The two sides have so far held 11 rounds of military level talks to defuse tension at the LAC with the last one in April. Similarly, at least seven rounds of diplomatic level talks under the aegis of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Co-ordination(WMCC)have also taken place to find ways to speed up the process of disengagement and de-escalation from the border.
At present, more than one lakh troops from both the sides are deployed at the LAC in Eastern Ladakh leading to tension.
The Fire and Fury Corps, responsible for guarding the Ladakh frontier paid homage to the martyrs of Galwan on the first anniversary of the violent clash.
In a solemn ceremony, Major General Akash Kaushik of the Fire and Fury Corps laid a wreath at the iconic War Memorial in Leh on the occasion.