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on May 20, 2021)The Army has an adequate number of troops deployed on the eastern Ladakh frontier to tackle any contingency, Army chief General MM Naravane said on Wednesday, even as he expressed hope that the continuing military confrontation with China would be resolved through dialogue.
The trust between the two armies ranged against each other in the high-altitude region has “built up” in the backdrop of neither side “violating” the troop disengagement pact on both sides of Pangong Tso since February, Gen Naravane said.
He said the dialogue process between India and China, both at the diplomatic and military levels, had not come to a standstill. “It is a continuous process… it will take time,” he said, adding that around 50,000-60,000 Indian troops continue to be deployed along the frontier in eastern Ladakh.
The People’s Liberation Army has so far refused to complete the stalled disengagement at Gogra, Hot Springs and Demchok as well as stop blocking Indian patrols in the strategically-located Depsang Plains, as reported by TOI earlier.
Moreover, the PLA has also continued to upgrade its military infrastructure along the Line of Actual Control in terms of roads, troop shelters, helipads and surface-to-air missiles positions in ‘depth areas’. “We are doing the same. We are in no way behind in our infrastructure development,” Gen Naravane said, adding that India was closely monitoring the situation at a time when the PLA has launched its annual summer exercises in its “traditional training areas”.
“This is an annual activity. We all come to our training areas during this particular period. China has also come to its training area. But there has been no movement in any area where we have disengaged from (Pangong Tso)… both sides have honoured the disengagement,” he added.
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