Scuffles in Sikkim, Ladakh between India, China troops have no connection with domestic or international situation: Army Chief

The face-offs between troops of India and China have no connection with any domestic or international situation prevailing today, Army Chief Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane said on Wednesday.

The face-offs between troops of India and China have no connection with any domestic or international situation prevailing today, Army Chief Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane said on Wednesday. In an interview with ANI, Naravane said these face-offs have been happening in the past and it has happened again now and "we will deal with it as per protocol between the two countries".

The Army chief said face-offs between Chinese People's Liberation Army troops and Indian troops are nothing new as the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is not very "well defined" but asserted that the armed force will deal with the issue as per the protocol laid out between the two countries. The Army chief's remarks came after Indian forces had face-offs with Chinese forces in northern Sikkim and in eastern Ladakh earlier this week.

"As far the situation in northern borders is concerned, LAC is not very well defined. There are different perceptions where the LAC runs. Accordingly, both sides patrol up to their accepted claimed lines and, therefore, when patrols reach at the same place and at the same time such face-offs do occur. They have occurred in the past and there is nothing new in what has happened in last week or ten days," Naravane said. "It is just a matter of chance that the face-off in eastern Ladakh happened during the same period but we should not read too much into this that this is part of some coordinated plan. There is nothing like that... But we will deal with it as per the protocol which has been laid out between the two countries and in accordance with strategic guidelines," he said.

The Army chief said that he has recently visited Eastern Command as well as south-western command. "Within this month, I have visited both Eastern Command and Sikkim and have just come back from south-western command. I had the opportunity to meet troops and commanders on the ground. Everyone's morale is high and we are totally prepared to meet all our challenges and tasks which have been given to us," he said.

Naravane said that Indian Army is always working towards self-reliance and a majority of its orders have gone into firms in the country. "We always working towards self-reliance and I have been fully in support of the Make in India initiative. In the past, we have also had new categorisations like Make 1, Make 2 which make it much easier for private industries to participate in defence-related products and they can make it in India for us. So, we are not only doing indigenisation through our PSUs and Ordnance Factory Board (OFBs)," he said when asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for self-reliant India.

"We also want to get local industry and indigenous players into the fold of making defence-related products. More than 70-80 per cent of Army's orders both in numbers and cost have gone to Indian firms and we will continue doing it in the future also. Recently, we have signed an order of Rs 70 crores with L&T and we will continue to support indigenisation process," he said. (ANI)

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