NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a review meeting on Tuesday with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Bipin Rawat besides other senior officials on a day the stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops continued in the Galwan valley of eastern Ladakh.
Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh RK Mathur, who was in Delhi, also called on the Prime Minister, said official sources.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was also briefed by the CDS and three service chiefs on Tuesday as he reviewed the ground situation in Ladakh.
Singh is learnt to have heard them out, discussing troop numbers and risk to infrastructure. Earlier, the Indian Army and China’s People’s Liberation Army held several meetings to resolve the LAC situation in eastern Ladakh.
Defence sources said India, for now, had decided that road construction along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh must continue and Indian fortifications and troop deployment must match those of the Chinese. The Indian Army has been asked to hold ground while talks to defuse the situation would continue.
Meanwhile, reports said China continued to add to its military strength across eastern Ladakh as tensions festered in the Galwan valley and north of the Pangong Tso, a 135-km glacial lake.
Some 8,000-10,000 troops along a stretch of 826 km and armoured personal carriers and artillery guns have already been deployed on both sides. Troop build-up on both sides is concentrated at three spots —- one at Galwan and two around Pangong Tso. The cause of the flare-up is apparently the 255-km Darbuk-Shyok-Daulat Baig Oldie road.
Opposite the road or eastwards of it is the Aksai Chin plateau, illegally occupied by China.
China and India have a string of air bases close to the LAC which can be used to launch an offensive. A senior official explained that fully functional Chinese airfields at Kashgar, Korla, Yarkand, Hotan, Ngari Gunsa and Gardzong virtually form a ‘ring’ around Ladakh.
On Friday, General Manoj Mukund Naravane had visited Leh, the headquarters of 14 Corps, and reviewed security deployment of forces along the LAC.