Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday reviewed India’s overall military preparedness in eastern Ladakh and several other sensitive areas along the Line of Actual Control in Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh even as commanders of the Indian and Chinese armies held another round of talks to end the current standoff, official sources said.
The defence minister was given a detailed account of the overall situation in eastern Ladakh by Army Chief Gen MM Naravane at a high-level meeting which was also attended by Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh and Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria.
The Indian and Chinese armies are locked in an over five-week standoff in Pangong Tso, Galwan Valley, Demchok and Daulat Beg Oldie in eastern Ladakh.
The two sides have deployed additional troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de-facto Sino-India border, in North Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh in the last few days, the sources said.
In the review meeting, Singh told the top military brass to continue to deal with the situation in eastern Ladakh and other areas with “firmness”, at the same time insisting that the two sides must resolve the row through talks, they said.
It is learnt that the Chief of Air Staff conveyed in the meeting that the Indian Air Force is keeping a close eye on all the air activities by China along the LAC while the Navy Chief talked about the situation in the Indian Ocean region where the Chinese Navy has been trying to increase its presence.
“The defence minister carried out a comprehensive review of the situation in eastern Ladakh and other areas along the LAC,” said a senior official on condition of anonymity. Military sources said the two armies held another round of Major General-level talks on Friday to find a way out to defuse the tension in eastern Ladakh.