Badal calls for proper steps to defend country's integrity

The Shiromani Akali Dal president also described China's attempts to claim sovereignty over the Galwan valley as “intolerable”. “The country should be ready for a befitting action to ensure that the Chinese dare not change the status quo on the Indo-China border again,” Badal said in a statement here.

SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday called for appropriate steps to defend the country’s integrity and sovereignty and ensure that sacrifices of Indian soldiers in a fierce clash with Chinese troops in Galwan Valley of Ladakh do not go in vain. The Shiromani Akali Dal president also described China's attempts to claim sovereignty over the Galwan valley as “intolerable”.

“The country should be ready for a befitting action to ensure that the Chinese dare not change the status quo on the Indo-China border again,” Badal said in a statement here. “The country should send a strong message to China that such transgressions will invite retaliatory actions. They should be told that there is no way India will agree to parting with even one inch of its land and that it is ready to make the highest sacrifice to protect its sovereignty,” he said. He also expressed his solidarity with the armed forces and said, “Our soldiers displayed exemplary bravery and despite facing huge odds, ensured that the enemy was not able to achieve its goals.” He said the nation would always remember the sacrifices of its soldiers and would stand shoulder to shoulder with them to protect the country against external aggression.

Badal also expressed his deepest condolences to the families of twenty soldiers who made the “ultimate sacrifice defending the country's borders in the Galwan valley in Ladakh”. He said four of these bravehearts, naib subedars Mandeep Singh and Satnam Singh and sepoys Gurbinder Singh and Gurtej Singh, belonged to Punjab..