New Delhi: Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan on May 30 said the deployment of People’s Liberation Army of China on India’s northern borders is not increasing day by day.
Talking to reporters after the National Defence Academy 144th course passing out parade in Pune, he said the PLA deployment on the northern borders is at the same level as it was in 2020. “They haven’t gone back. So, there is a challenge actually,” he added. “The armed forces are taking all kinds of steps so that there is no untoward situation…We have been able to get back to all places except two: Demchok and Depsang. Negotiations are on,” he said. “Hopefully that will come about, we are hopeful of that,” he added.
Till the time that comes about, there is a need to maintain constant vigil on the border, he said.
Gen Chauhan — himself an alumnus of the 58th course of the academy — inspected the parade line up of the passing out cadets as the Reviewing Officer of the parade, addressed them and also pinned the medals on the award winning cadets.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Passing Out Parade of the 144th course of National Defence Academy with the media on May 30 morning, Gen Chauhan said the Army, along with Assam Rifles, was deployed in Manipur for counterinsurgency operations before 2020. But since the challenges along the northern borders (with China) were “far more”, he said “we were able to withdraw the Army”. This withdrawal was also possible because the insurgency situation had “normalised”, he added.
“The situation now in Manipur is not insurgency-related but is a clash between two ethnicities,” the CDS said. ”It’s a law and order situation that we are helping the state government with. The armed forces and Assam Rifles have done an excellent job and may have saved a large number of lives.”
He said, “The challenges in Manipur have not disappeared — it will take some time. Hopefully, this will settle and the state government will be able to do the job with the help of CAPF (paramilitary Central Armed Police Forces), etc., and the armed forces should be back to looking at challenges at the northern border, which have not disappeared.”
Earlier, Gen Chauhan in his address to the new cadets, said, “We are living in a time when the global security situation is not at its best, (and) international geopolitical order is in a state of flux. The war in Europe, continued deployment of the PLA along the northern borders and political and economic turmoil in our immediate neighbourhood — all (this) present a different kind of challenge for the Indian military. The armed forces are committed to maintain the legitimacy of our claims on the Line of Control [with Pakistan] and play a constructive role in maintaining peace and stability in our immediate and extended neighbourhood.”
