“I urge the Prime Minister to kindly share with us all the facts and the sequence of events beginning April this year to date,” Congress President Sonia Gandhi said.
New Delhi, June 19:
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who agreed to be a part of the all-party meet called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the India-China standoff in eastern Ladakh, posed seven questions to the Government of India during her opening address.
The first question was, “On which date did the Chinese troops intrude into our territory in Ladakh?”
Followed by “When did the government find out about the Chinese transgressions into our territory?” and “Was it on May 5th, as reported, or earlier?”
“Does the government not receive, on a regular basis, satellite pictures of the borders of our country?” Congress President Sonia Gandhi asked the Government of India. She also posed the question, “Did our external intelligence agencies not report any unusual activity along the LAC?”
Expanding on that line of questioning, Gandhi asked, “Did the Military Intelligence not alert the government about the intrusion and the build-up of massive forces along the LAC, whether on the Chinese side or on the Indian side?”
Her final question was, “In the government’s considered view, was there a failure of intelligence?”
Sonia Gandhi concluded her address to the all-party meet by saying, “I urge the Prime Minister to kindly share with us all the facts and the sequence of events beginning April this year to date. The entire country would like an assurance that status quo ante would be restored and China will revert back to the original position on Line of Actual Control.”
“We would also like to be briefed on the preparedness of our defence forces to meet any threat. In particular, I would like to ask what is the current status of the Mountain Strike Corps, with two mountain infantry divisions, that was sanctioned in 2013? Should the Government not treat it with utmost priority?” asked Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
