Army Chief General MM Naravane’s visit to Leh comes a day after India and China held top-level military talks to discuss the Galwan face-off and other points of dispute for more than 11 hours.
New Delhi, June 23:
Army Chief General MM Naravane is in Ladakh on a two-day visit to review the on-ground situation after the face-off between Indian and Chinese soldiers in the Galwan valley in which 20 Indian troops were killed in the line of duty last Monday. He will also review the progress in talks with the Chinese military.
General Naravane met and interacted with soldiers at the Military Hospital in Leh.
The army chief’s visit comes a day after India and China held top-level military talks to discuss the Galwan face-off and other points of dispute for more than 11 hours. The Lieutenant General-level meeting, which began at 11.30 AM on Monday, was held at Moldo on the Chinese side of Chushul in eastern Ladakh.
During Monday’s top-level military talks, the generals resumed discussions on the disengagement process, which was stalled by the worst-ever border confrontation between the Indian and Chinese armies since 1967 last week.
General MM Naravane #COAS interacting with our gallant soldiers at Military Hospital, Leh during his two day visit to Eastern #Ladakh. pic.twitter.com/pG22J7kIs4
— ADG PI – INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) June 23, 2020
General MM Naravane left for Leh after attending the final session of the Army Commanders’ Conference in Delhi.
The army chief had on Monday discussed the security situation with the top army commanders in Delhi, officials said.
On June 15, 20 soldiers were killed in the line of duty and 76 were injured in a deadly clash that broke out over the Chinese refusing to remove a tent as part of what was agreed on June 6. Indian soldiers were assaulted with crude and barbaric weapons used by the Chinese troops, including nail-studded clubs, spiked rods and stones. Army sources said 45 Chinese soldiers were killed or injured in the brawl along Galwan River.
Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria had visited Ladakh for two days last week- on Wednesday and Thursday – to review the preparations of the IAF. He visited the Leh airbase on Wednesday and the Srinagar airbase in Jammu and Kashmir the next day. Indian Air Force fighter jets and attack helicopters, including the recently-acquired Apache chopper, were spotted over Leh last week.
