Rajnath Singh to speak on India-China border situation in Rajya Sabha today
Rajnath on Tuesday said that the issue was still unresolved as China does not accept customary and peripheral alignment of Sino-India border and this has affected the peace and tranquillity along the border.
Two days after speaking over the India-China border situation in Lok Sabha, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to make a statement on the issue in the Rajya Sabha today.
The minister on Tuesday spoke about the skirmish and said that "the issue was still unresolved as China does not accept customary and peripheral alignment of Sino-India border" and this has affected the "peace and tranquility along the border".
"Since April, we have seen increase in troops and weapons deployment along LAC in Ladakh," the defence minister said. He added that China's violent conduct along the LAC is violation of all existing agreements and there was a face-off in Galwan on June 15 in which Indian forces inflicted heavy casualties on Chinese forces.
He asserted that the Indian forces are determined to protect the security and sovereignty of the country.
"As this House is aware, China is in unauthorised occupation of about 38,000 square km of land in Ladakh. Also, under a so-called Boundary-Agreement in 1963, Pakistan illegally handed over 5180 square km of Indian land of PoK to China. China's action shows its disregard towards our various bilateral agreements. The deployment of large amounts of troops by China is a violation of the 1993 and 1996 agreement," said the Defence Minister.
"As of now, the Chinese side has mobilised a large number of troops and ammunition in the LAC and interior areas. East Ladakh and Gogra, Kongka La and Pangong Lake have several friction areas on North and South Banks," he said.
The statement assumes significance in the backdrop of demands made by the Opposition for a debate on the issue.
The two countries have been engaged in a standoff position since April-May timeframe and the Chinese have refused to vacate areas in the Finger area and other friction points in the Eastern Ladakh area.Multiple rounds of talks have also failed to yield any significant result in defusing the tensions and now the Indian side has prepared itself for long term deployment in the high mountainous region.
(With ANI inputs)