New Delhi: In what appears to be an attempt to boost the morale of Indian troops and mislead the people of India, Indian Army Chief General Manoj Pande claimed that the situation along India’s northern borders with China is under control but remains ‘unpredictable’.
Addressing the annual Army Day press conference, General Pande said five of the seven thorny issues between the Indian and Chinese armed forces have been presented on the table. The Indian Army Day is marked on January 15, every year.
“Though unpredictable, the situation at the northern borders is stable and under control. We have been able to resolve five of the seven issues on the table in the talk as our preparedness is of very high level and we have enough reserves to deal with any contingency,” General Pande boasted.
Pertinently, the situation on the LAC remains tense since the clash between the Indian and Chinese troops in Ladakh region in June 2020. Twenty Indian soldiers were killed and dozens others were injured at Galwan Valley in Ladakh on June 15, 2020. Several Indian soldiers sustained injuries in yet another clash between Indian and Chinese armies at the LAC in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh on December 09, last year.
Without naming China, the Indian Army Chief further said they have been able to prevent all attempts to change the status quo (on the LAC) in a robust manner. “In a firm and resolute manner with our soldiers deployed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), we have been able to prevent any attempts by (the) adversary to unilaterally change the status quo in a robust manner,” he said.
General Pande said women officers might be commissioned soon into the Indian Army’s Corps of Artillery, as a proposal to that effect has been forwarded to the government for its assent.
Indian Army Chief also talked about transformation of the Indian Army. In this regard, he said it essentially spans five key domains starting from force restructuring and optimisation, modernisation and technology infusion and Human resource management philosophy.
General Pande said they are looking at manufacturing six lakh weapons in collaboration with Russia out of which 70,000 weapons will be manufactured in the first batch. This statement speaks volumes about India’s ambition to achieve hegemony in south Asia through military advancements.
He also repeated the mantra of so-called cross-border terrorism to malign Pakistan by saying that though the ceasefire understanding between Islamabad and New Delhi which came about in February 2021 is holding well yet cross-border support to ‘terrorism’ and ‘terror infrastructure’ in J&K continues.
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