'Indian Army capable of giving befitting reply amid border tension with China': CDS Rawat

Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Bipin Rawat on Friday, September 11 affirmed that the armed forces of India are ready for any eventuality amid the ongoing border standoff between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. CDS Rawat further asserted that the Defence forces are capable of giving befitting reply to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), if any misadventure takes place along the border, according to media reports.

CDS made the statement at the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Defence. The meet was chaired by BJP leader Jual Oram and was attended by the former Congress president Rahul Gandhi. This was probably the first time Gandhi attended the committee meet who is one of the vocal critics of the Central government. 

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India wants peace and tranquillity across its borders

Earlier this month, while addressing the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, CDS Rawat had made similar remarks. He said that India wants peace and tranquillity across borders but at the same time the Indian Army is capable of handling any Chinese aggression. India wants peace and tranquillity across its borders, however off late the country has witnessed aggressive actions from the China side, CDS stated. India is capable of handling these aggressions and the country's tri-services are capable of dealing with threats along the frontiers, Rawat reiterated.

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Besides Rahul Gandhi, the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Defence meeting was also attended by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar. Earlier in the day on Friday, Pawar had said that he would ask for a presentation for the members of the panel on the situation at LAC in Ladakh. The meeting came a day after Indian and Chinese foreign Ministers, after a full in-depth discussion for nearly two hours, reached a five-point consensus for resolving the prolonged border face-off in eastern Ladakh.

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EAM Jaishankar meets Chinese counterpart 

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi along the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) council of foreign ministers’ summit in Moscow. Both the leaders arrived at a five-point consensus to resolve the border tensions in what the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has called a "frank and constructive discussion". This is the second high-level meeting between leaders of two countries within a short space of time post the clash along the LAC on June 16 and thereafter. Last week, Defence Ministers of both countries also met in Moscow. India and China have been locked in a tense standoff in multiple areas along the Line of Actual Control(LAC) in eastern Ladakh for four months. 

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