Amid heightened Chinese fighter aircraft and helicopter activities along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Indian armed forces have deployed their advanced very quick-reaction surface-to-air missile defence systems in the Eastern Ladakh sector.
In the last couple of weeks, the Chinese forces have brought in heavy air superiority aircraft like the Sukhoi-30 and its strategic bombers to the rear locations which have been detected flying near the Indian territory maintaining the 10 km plus distance from the boundary.
Sources said that India is also very shortly getting a highly capable air defence system from a friendly country which can be deployed and the entire area can be taken care off to prevent any enemy flying there.
Sources said the Chinese choppers have been flying their very close to the Indian LAC in all the troubled sectors including the Sub Sector North (Daulat Beg Oldie sector), Galwan valley near Patrolling Point 14, Patrolling Point 15, Patrolling Point 17 and 17A (Hot Springs area) along with the Pangong Tso and Finger area where they are now moving closer to the Finger 3 area.
Tarpaulins By China
New satellite images of the Galwan Valley procured by NDTV show black tarpaulins on an embankment of the Galwan River, believed to be a Chinese position around the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the region.
The new images, procured from Planet Labs, are dated June 25 and June 26 (yesterday) and indicate further Chinese consolidation in the Galwan region. They also show the presence of not less than 16 camps of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army within 9 kilometres of the LAC in this sector.
The images clearly indicate that China has not disengaged in the area and continues to maintain massive troop strength – a direct threat to the Indian Army operating on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control. In widely reported military talks between Lieutenant General-ranked officers on June 22, both India and China had agreed to mutually de-escalate across all contentious areas in Ladakh.
Reports, often backed by high-resolution satellite imagery, have clearly indicated the extent of the Chinese intrusion in the Fingers Region of the Pangong Lake, Gogra/Hot Springs, the Galwan Valley and Daulat Beg Oldie to the North.
In a strong statement, India’s ambassador to China Vikram Misri warned Beijing that trying to alter the status quo on the ground by resorting to force will not just damage the peace that existed on the border areas but can also have “ripples and repercussions” in the broader bilateral relationship, and demanded that the country stop its activities in eastern Ladakh.
The only way to resolve the current military standoff along the LAC in eastern Ladakh was for Beijing to realise that trying to “change the status quo by resorting to force or coercion, is not the right way forward,” Ambassador Misri told news agency PTI in an interview.
