After Ladakh Face-off, Indian Forces Granted Full Freedom To Give Befitting Response To China
Following the worst clashes between the Indian and Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) last week, which left 20 Indian Army personnel and undeclared number fatalities in the People's Liberation Army (PLA), India has reportedly given its armed forces "full freedom" to give a "befitting" response to any Chinese misadventure along the 3,500-km de-facto border.?
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who reviewed the situation in eastern Ladakh at a meeting with Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, Army Chief Gen MM Naravane, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh and Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria told the top military officers to maintain a strict vigil on Chinese activities around the land border, the airspace and in strategic sea lanes, PTI quoting a government source reported.?
Following the Galwan incident, military sources said Indian troops will no longer be bound by the long-held practice of not using firearms in faceoffs.The armed forces were told to be fully ready to give a befitting reply to any Chinese misadventure, the sources said, adding a "tough" approach is being adopted to guard the border.?
Seventy-six Indian soldiers were also injured in the Galwan Valley clash. China's People's Liberation Army has not yet talked about the number of casualties it suffered.The sources said the armed forces have been given full freedom to deal with any act of aggression by China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de-facto border between the two countries.The two armies had mutually decided not to resort to use firearms during face-offs in sync with provisions of two agreements on border management.?
The agreements were signed in 1996 and 2005."Henceforth, our approach will be different. The ground commanders have been given full freedom to take decisions depending on the situation," a top military official told PTI on the condition of anonymity.?
The IAF has already moved a sizeable number of its frontline Sukhoi 30 MKI, Jaguar, Mirage 2000 aircraft and Apache attack helicopters to several key air bases including Leh and Srinagar in the last five days.Air Chief Marshal Bhadauria on Saturday said the IAF is "well prepared" and "suitably deployed" to counter any security challenge along the border with China and even hinted that his force has flown combat air patrols in the Ladakh region as part of heightened preparedness.Under combat air patrols, fully armed fighter jets can be scrambled at short notices for specific missions.?
The two armies were engaged in a standoff in Galwan and several other areas of eastern Ladakh since May 5 when their troops clashed on the banks of the Pangong Tso.The situation in eastern Ladakh deteriorated after around 250 Chinese and Indian soldiers were engaged in a violent face-off on May 5 and 6. The incident in Pangong Tso was followed by a similar incident in north Sikkim on May 9.Prior to the clashes, both sides had been asserting that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it was necessary to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas.
