Chief of the Army Staff, Gen Manoj Pande on Monday said the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is stable but ‘sensitive’ while acknowledging that there have not been any more friction areas between India and China in the last one year.

“Situation along the LAC remains stable but sensitive. In the last year or thereabouts, we haven’t had any more friction areas. In terms of our efforts at resolution, our talks and dialogue both at the military level as well as at the diplomatic level continue with the adversary,” he said.

Gen Pande noted that a total of 20 senior higher military commander meetings and 14 meetings of Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on China-India Border Affairs (WMCC) have taken place since April 2020 when the military stand-off between the two countries began in eastern Ladakh.

“We have had a total of 20 senior higher military commander level meetings and 14 WMCC meetings since April 2020. So through these talks, we’re hopeful that we’ll find a resolution,” to the ongoing military face-off, he added.

His comments came amid reports that India and China are in touch to decide the next round of talks both at the military and the diplomatic levels to resolve the border stand-off which has led to bilateral ties touching a new low.

Referring to the Army’s preparedness levels along the northern border, Gen Pande told news agency ANI that “Our deployment remains robust as well as balanced and we are also maintaining adequate reserves to be able to deal with any contingencies.”

The Army, he said, was also focussing on its capability development in these areas in terms of infusion of technology, modernisation, inducting better systems such as protected vehicles, surveillance drones, better communication radio sets etc. ”Simultaneously, our effort and focus are also on infrastructure development. Be it the habitat, forward connectivities to the LAC, or strategic road connectivity…it also includes extending power supply to our forward troops, improving communication in terms of 5G communication to our troops deployed in forward areas,” the Army chief said.

“We are also working alongside other government agencies, local administration and the local population to make sure that our preparedness levels along the LAC always remain high,” he added.