India-China joint exercise on counter-terrorism from Dec 7

The eighth India-China joint training exercise - 'Hand-in-Hand 2019' - would commence from December 7 at Umroi in Meghalaya, a defense official said. The two-week-long exercise is scheduled to focus on joint planning and counter-terrorist operations on semi-urban terrain, the official said here on Monday.

A Chinese contingent from the Tibet Military Command, comprising 130 personnel, and an Indian contingent of similar strength will participate in the exercise, which has counter-terrorism as a theme as per the United Nations mandate. The exercise is planned at the company level with respective battalion headquarters controlling the training.

Two tactical exercises scheduled during the training are - counter-terrorism scenario and humanitarian and disaster relief operations - the defense official said. The mandate of the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF), established by the UN Secretary-General in 2005, was to strengthen coordination and coherence of counter-terrorism efforts of the United Nations system, according to the UN Office of counter-terrorism's website.

"The exercise is scheduled to focus on training through lectures and drills associated with counter-terrorist handling and firing with each other's weapons, battle obstacles course and special heliborne operations carried out in the counter-terrorist environment," the official added.