Army given liberty to deal with Chinese aggression at LAC: Sources

Team Udayavani, Jun 21, 2020, 1:50 PM IST

New Delhi: Days after a violent confrontation between Indian and Chinese troops, it is gathered that the Indian Army has given full liberty to its soldiers deployed along the LAC to respond to any aggressive behaviour by the Chinese troops.

On June 15, 20 Indian soldiers were martyred in a violent confrontation with Chinese troops. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had clarified that though the soldiers were armed, they did not resort to firing as per a long-standing practice (as per 1996 & 2005 agreements) not to use firearms during faceoffs

As per sources the decision to give full liberty to the soldiers was taken during a high-level meeting chaired by defence minister Rajnath Singh with Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, Army Chief Gen MM Naravane, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh and Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria.

Accordingly the commanders will now have complete authority to give a befitting reply by using all resources at their disposal if the situation demands, said sources.