India is continuously monitoring the activities across the border and is prepared to beat any kind of emerging challenges, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Indian Army’s Eastern Command, Lt General Rana Pratap Kalita, said on Friday on tensions with China. His remarks came in the backdrop of a report by news agency Reuters, which – citing a security assessment – claimed of possibility of more skirmishes between Indian and Chinese soldiers along their contested frontier in Ladakh with Beijing ramping up its military infrastructure in the region. The report claimed the assessment to be a part of a “new, confidential research paper” by the Ladakh Police, which was submitted at a conference of top police officers held from January 20 to 22.
Meanwhile, Lt General Kalita said the situation along the borders in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh is “stable” but “unpredictable” because of the “absence of delineation of borders”. “There are different perceptions about LAC (Line of Actual Control) which lead to friction,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
He also spoke on the increased deployment of Chinese troops along India-China border areas. “We have read that gradually there has been an increase in deployment of troops opposite our sectors along with infrastructure being carried out by the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) across the down borders.”
“It’s difficult to quantify the number of (Chinese) troops deployed in these areas. But we are continuously and closely monitoring the developments in these areas,” he added. China’s People’s Liberation Army, he said, started infrastructure development post-2017 Doklam issue within their own territory, adding that to mirror these activities on the Indian side “infrastructure development” has been carried out to “ensure better response” in case required.
