'Not an inch of land lost': Army chief on India-China standoff in Ladakh
Nearly a year after the standoff between India and China in Eastern Ladakh, Army chief General MM Naravane on Tuesday said that India did not lose even an inch of its territory during its months-long faceoff.
The Army chief said that since the disengagement process kicked off last month, there has been relative peace in the region.
"We have not lost out on any territory, we are where we were before this whole thing started. Not an inch of land has been lost," the Army chief told ANI.
"After the ninth round of the Core Commander level talks, we had agreed upon a phased disengagement from these friction areas, and as per that from February 10 onwards, the disengagement started and it went according to the plan wherefrom the North and South Bank of Pangong Tso as well as from the Kailash Range, people have gone back to their nearest permanent locations. Thereby the face-to-face deployment that was there and because of which there could have been chances of miscalculation has now receded. So we have gone back and as a result of that now there is relative peace and tranquility in the LAC," General Naravane said.
"As a result of disengagement process, it has been reached upon the principle of mutual and equal security. So, I think that should be the way we look at the entire disengagement process, that it serves the interests of both the countries to have a very stable LAC and with lesser chances of any confrontation taking place," he added.
Emphasizing the importance of discussion and dialogue with China, the Army chief said that through talks both sides will be able to narrow down their differences and arrive at an acceptable solution based on mutual and equal security.
Speaking about the situation at other friction points where China was aggressive like Gogra Hotsprings, General Naravane said: "We are approaching the whole situation in a step-by-step manner. So the initial step was that of disengagement that we just talked about. Future round of talks will continue and I am sure that through these talks we will be able to narrow down our differences and arrive at an acceptable solution based on mutual and equal security which is acceptable to both sides, only then it will succeed. We will keep working at it."
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