Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda held a press meet on Friday and spoke about the ongoing border dispute with China. He said that the dispute is not repairable.
In 1996, HD Deve Gowda as the Prime Minister of India had helmed the peace accord between India and China. During those times, he had cautioned opposition leaders against playing domestic politics over the issues of national security. Talking about the peace accord, he said,
“The agreement was made on the basis of decisions taken in 1993. The 1996 accord helped both sides and there was no conflict on the border till 2017.”
‘Beyond Repair’
Speaking about the current situation that is going on along the line of actual control, he thinks that the situation has reached a point that it would be difficult to restore normalcy. He said,
“Now, things have gone beyond repair. Sitting here (in Bengaluru), I do not know the ground realities today, but it has become a mess. Why did our soldiers go empty-handed, and who took that decision? They should have first sent a small team to gather intelligence. It is one of the major issues.”
On the 16th of June, 20 soldiers of the Indian armed forces were killed by the People’s Liberation Army of China following a violent clash between the two forces. Deve Gowda believes that the tensions along the border escalated post the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian constitution that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir. He feels that with the mobilization of forces on both sides, the restriction of Chinese investments and the growing China-Pakistan relation, it is very difficult to restore normalcy along the border.
He also added that during the 2017 Dokhlam incident, the then Defence Minister, Late Sushma Swaraj, took everyone in confidence and executed a planned strategy which is missing now, says Deve Gowda.
Source: The New Indian Express
