Army top brass discusses Ladakh situation during commanders conference

Amid the ongoing tensions with China in Eastern Ladakh, Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane and top commanders on Wednesday held deliberations on the security challenges faced by the country on northern and western fronts.

The deliberations took place during the Army Commanders' Conference which began today.

The meeting is happening at a time when the Chinese have deployed over 5,000 troops along the Line of Control and at some of the locations they have even intruded into the Indian territory.

"There was an operational review of the security situation amid the presence of the Army Commanders from all the operational commands including the Northern Command which is in charge of the security of Union Territories of newly-created Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir," Army sources said.

They said the commanders discussed the ongoing situation in Ladakh and the preparations of the security forces to deal with the situation there.

The biannual Commanders' Conference is taking place a couple of months after schedule as it was deferred due to the coronavirus pandemic in the country.

A few days before the commanders' conference, the Army Chief had gone to Leh to review the situation in Eastern Ladakh and then apprised the leadership about the situation.

The armed forces through the Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval also briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the military options to deal with the situation along the China border where bullets have not been fired since 1967 and territorial claims are made through pushing and shoving between the troops.

The Indian security forces have increased their strength in the area with a number of troops getting inducted from other sectors to beef up the strength. Patrolling and troop strength has also been increased on the borders with China in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand as many incidents of transgressions have happened there in the last few years.

Sources said, in the Uttarkhand sector, the Indian side is picking up a lot of signals of satellite communication between Chinese troops on their side of the border where they use Thuraya satellite phones in a big way mainly for road construction projects.

The patrolling and number of troops have also been increased in the Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh frontline as the Chinese have increased their activities on that side of the border too on their territory.

( With inputs from ANI )