Rajnath Singh meets top military brass, armed forces given 'full freedom' to deal with Chinese aggression along LAC

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New Delhi: The armed forces deployed along the 3,500-km de-facto border with China have been given full freedom in giving a befitting reply to any Chinese aggressive behaviour, government sources said on Sunday (June 20). The sources added that the Army, as well as the Indian Air Forces, have been ramping up their operational capabilities along the LAC to effectively deal with any Chinese misadventure.

According to sources, the decision was taken in the high-level meeting held today between Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and top military brass on the situation in eastern Ladakh.

The meeting was attended by Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, Army Chief Gen MM Naravane, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh and Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria.

According to sources, Rajnath told the top military brass to maintain strict vigil on Chinese activities around land border, airspace and in strategic sea lanes, and asked them to adopt a tough approach in dealing with any misadventure by Chinese forces.

Indian and Chinese armies have been on a six-week standoff in several areas of eastern Ladakh. The ties between the two countries came under severe strain after Chinese military killed 20 Indian Army personnel and injured around 76 in a violent clash in Galwan Valley on June 15. The sources today also claimed that at least 45-50 Chinese troops were also killed during the violent confrontation, that went for almost 4 hours at Galwan valley on the intervening night of June 15-16.

Notably, China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) has not talked about the number of casualties it suffered in the face-off.