Tawang Clash: PLA tried to change LAC, pushed back by Indian Army, says Rajnath Singh

New Delhi: Briefing the Parliament on Tuesday regarding the recent encroachment attempt by China at the LAC in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, Defence Minister asserted that the Indian Army had successfully pushed back the PLA.

“On December 9 in the Yangtse area of Tawang sector, PLA troops of China encroached upon and attempted to change the status quo at the LAC. This attempt was tackled by our Indian Army troops in a determined manner. Our troops bravely stopped the PLA from encroaching upon our territory and forced them to go back to their post,” Rajnath Singh said.

“In this face-off, few soldiers on both sides suffered injuries. I’d like to tell this House that none of our soldiers died or suffered any serious injury. Due to the timely intervention of Indian military commanders, PLA soldiers have retreated to their own locations,” the Defence Minister added.

“This matter has also been taken up with China through diplomatic channels. I want to assure the House that our forces are committed to guard our borders and ready to thwart any attempt that will be made to challenge it.”

Two years after the deadly clash at Galwan in Ladakh, the Indian Army and and the People’s Liberation
Army (PLA) of China have clashed again at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) this time at Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.

Tawang, which had borne witness to several bloody encounters during the 1962 war between India and China, is in focus over half a century later due to te latest clash between the Indian Army and the PLA.

Before the recent clash between India and China in the Yangtse area near Tawang, Chinese drones had moved very aggressively towards the Indian positions on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh forcing the Indian Air Force to scramble its fighter aircraft deployed in the region.

The Chinese military has been behaving aggressively over issues in the Yangtse in the vicinity of the Holydip and Parikrama area on the LAC where the Chinese side has been opposing Indian positions.

“In the last few weeks, there have been two to three occasions where our fighter jets had to be scrambled to tackle the Chinese drones moving towards our positions on the LAC. The Su-30MKI jets had to be scrambled to tackle the air violation threat,” news agency ANI quoted defence officials as saying

The Indian Air Force keeps a close watch on Chinese drone activities along the LAC in the northeast. The actions have to be taken as the drones or any aircraft can not be allowed to violate the airspace, they said.

The sources said if the drones fly parallel to the LAC, the Indian side does not have any issues with it but if the aircrafts or drones are picked up by radars flying towards Indian territory, necessary actions have to be taken to prevent any violation, they said.

The Indian Air Force has a strong presence in the northeast with squadrons of Su-30 fighter jets deployed at multiple locations including Tezpur and Chhabua in Assam.

The Rafale combat jets have also been deployed very close at Hashimara in West Bengal.

The Indian Air Force has also strengthened its air defence coverage in the area with the operationalisation of the S-400 air defence system in the Assam sector only. The system can take care of any aerial threat over almost the entire area.

The Chinese and Indian side recently agreed on multiple measures to prevent any aerial escalation after the violation of air space by Chinese in Ladakh sector earlier this year.

After the provocations by the Chinese in the area, the Indian side strongly took up the issue at military talks and it was decided that the fighter aircraft of both sides would remain much behind their perceived Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the area.

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