Rajnath Singh, Chief of Defence Staff, Army Chief offer prayers at Amarnath Temple

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief General MM Naravane offered prayers at Amarnath Temple on Saturday.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief General MM Naravane offered prayers at Amarnath Temple on Saturday. The Defence Minister is on a two-day visit to Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. He will take stock of the situation at both the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the Line of Control (LOC).

On the first day of his visit, the Defence Minister interacted with the troops in Lukung, Ladakh along with Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief General MM Naravane on Friday. "Talks are underway to resolve the border dispute but to what extent it can be resolved I cannot guarantee. I can assure you, not one inch of our land can be taken by any power in the world," he said referring to India-China standoff while he interacted with the Indian Army and ITBP personnel at Lukung.

Emphasizing on finding a diplomatic solution to the standoff, he further said, "If a solution can be found by talks, there is nothing better." "Recently what happened between troops of India and China at PP14, how some of our personnel sacrificed their lives protecting our border. I am happy to meet you all but also saddened because of their loss. I pay my tributes to them," he added.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has been continuously carrying out ceasefire violations along the Line of Control and China has been carrying out incursions into Indian territory in the Ladakh region in the recent past. On June 15, 20 Indian soldiers laid out their lives during combat with Chinese forces in Galway valley, leading to tensions between both nations. Chinese soldiers subsequently started moving back following dialogues between two countries through the military level and diplomatic level.