Form of words:
Chandigarh: Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday that India wants a solution to the border dispute with China through dialogue and asserted that the government will never allow the sanctity of borders to be violated.
He said the Modi government has made it clear to the forces that any unilateral action on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) should not be ignored.
Singh was delivering the third Balramji Das Tandon Memorial Lecture organized by Panjab University on the issue of national security.
The Defense Minister said that there have been differences of opinion on the border with China. Despite this, there are some agreements, protocols that the armies of both countries follow for patrolling. Referring to the clashes in eastern Ladakh last year, Singh said the Chinese forces have ignored the agreed protocol.
We cannot allow the Chinese Army PLA to act unilaterally on the LAC under any circumstances.
This is what the Indian Army did that day at Galwan and bravely confronted the PLA troops and forced them to retreat, calling it a “historic” event.
India wants a solution to the border dispute with China through dialogue, the defense minister said and added that the government will never compromise on issues of “the country’s borders, its honor and self-respect”.
He said that we will never allow the sanctity of borders to be violated.
Recalling the Galwan incident, he said that the bravery, valor and restraint shown by the Indian Army is incomparable and unparalleled.
In the first deadly skirmish in the border region in nearly five decades, 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a fierce battle with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley on June 15 last year, which was followed by a massive deployment of troops and heavily armed forces. Both the armies are at friction points in eastern Ladakh.
In February, China officially acknowledged that five Chinese military officers and soldiers had been killed in clashes with the Indian military, although it is widely believed that the death toll was higher.
In a significant advance movement towards restoration of peace and tranquility in the region, Indian and Chinese armies completed the disengagement process and restored the former standoff after 15 months at Gogra in eastern Ladakh.
The development comes after the 12th round of military talks between the two sides on July 31 at the Chushul-Moldo meeting place in eastern Ladakh.
Earlier, Indian and Chinese border troops had first coordinated on the south and northern banks of Pangong Lake in February.
Rajnath Singh said that the army is trained to press the trigger after seeing the movement of the enemy, but the Indian Army has shown both courage and restraint while working with great maturity.
Despite this, some opposition leaders raised questions on the capability of the army, he said.
The Defense Minister said that India has learned a lot from the 1962 war against China.
On improving the infrastructure, he said that the Atal Tunnel project in Rohtang, which was stalled for a long time, was completed by the Modi government. He said that this tunnel has strategic importance.
Stating that the Border Roads Organization is developing infrastructure projects and providing all-weather connectivity to Ladakh, he said work has started on several alternative roads.
The minister said that this will also help those people who live in the border areas as these people have strategic importance for us.
Keeping in view their interests, it is necessary to strengthen the border infrastructure, he said.
Referring to the situation in the Northeast, the Minister said that in the last seven years an era of peace has come in the region.
He said there was a time when the entire region was in the grip of militancy and termed restoration of peace in the Northeast as the biggest strategic victory of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure.
The minister said that the government has been successful in controlling the Left Wing Extremism in the last seven years.
When the BJP government was formed in 2014, 160 districts were facing the Naxal problem, while in 2019 the number came down to 50.
Read also: Russia is forever partner but defense ties with India have run their course
subscribe our channel youtube And Wire
Why is the news media in crisis and how can you fix it?
India needs free, unbiased, non-hyphenated and questionable journalism even more as it is facing many crises.
But the news media itself is in trouble. There have been brutal layoffs and pay-cuts. The best of journalism are shrinking, yielding to raw prime-time spectacle.
ThePrint has the best young journalists, columnists and editors to work for it. Smart and thinking people like you will have to pay the price for maintaining this quality of journalism. Whether you live in India or abroad, you can Here.