Key change at Indian military helm in Ladakh, China talks likely next week

Amid tensions across the Line of Actual Control, the top Indian army leadership in Ladakh is also easing in a key change before the seventh corps commander level meeting between the Indian Army and the PLA which is expected to be held next week, a source familiar with the development told ETV Bharat's senior journalist Sanjib Kr Baruah.

New Delhi: With late autumn giving way to the onslaught of the Himalayan winter along the craggy terrain of eastern Ladakh, the top Indian army leadership in Ladakh is also easing in a key change before the seventh corps commander level meeting between the Indian Army and the PLA which is expected to be held next week.

“The Indian delegation at the talks with PLA will include Lieutenant General Harinder Singh, commander, 14 Corps, and Lieutenant General PGK Menon besides Navin Srivastava, the joint secretary in India’s foreign affairs ministry in charge of China, among others,” a source familiar with the development told ETV Bharat.

“But General Singh is to soon leave to take up his next assignment as commandant, Indian Military Academy (IMA) at Dehradun even as General Menon takes charge as commander, 14 Corps. That is why the latter was included in the last meeting (on September 21) so as to enable familiarization with the situation. The commandant of IMA Lt Gen Jaiveer Singh Negi is retiring on Wednesday.”

Gen Singh is expected to delay his joining at IMA by a few more days because of the criticality of the situation at the India-China border across eastern Ladakh.

The six meetings at the corps commander level on June 6, June 22, June 30, July 14, August 2 and September 21 has been fruitless so far.

On the contrary, the situation is fast slipping with China adopting a regressive posture by demanding restoration of territories under Indian and Chinese control by adhering to a unilateral delineation proposed by Chinese PM Chou En-Lai to his Indian counterpart Jawaharlal Nehru in a letter in 1959.

On Tuesday, in a definite hardening of positions, Beijing sprang a surprise with a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman stating the primacy of the 1959 proposal while also stating that China does not recognize the “illegally” constituted Union territory of Ladakh and was opposed to India building military infrastructure in the border areas.

This clear attempt to escalate the situation between the two Asian giants has taken place amid unprecedented mobilization of military assets across the border and in depth areas. More than 1,00,000 troops are deployed across the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

In a thus-far futile effort to resolve the confrontation, besides the military interactions, a flurry of meetings have already taken place between the respective defence ministers, foreign ministers and special representatives.

The Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) which met for the 19th time today (September 30) also reviewed the current situation along the LAC.