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Can govt confirm that no Chinese soldiers have entered India: Rahul Gandhi amid Ladakh standoff

Earlier, former Congress president had on May 29, said that the government must come clean and tell India exactly what’s happening between India and China.

Can govt confirm that no Chinese soldiers have entered India: Rahul Gandhi amid Ladakh standoff

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. (File Photo: IANS)

As Indian and Chinese troops have remained engaged in an eyeball-to-eyeball situation in several areas along the LAC in eastern Ladakh, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday once again questioned the central government  over the military standoff with Beijing and asked if the government could confirm that no Chinese soldiers entered India.

Gandhi tweeted, “Can Government of India please confirm that no Chinese soldiers have entered India?” posting a news report that said that India-China will hold top-level military meeting on June 6 in a bid to resolve the troop confrontation in eastern Ladakh, quoting Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, where he also admitted that Chinese soldiers were present in a sizeable number in the high altitude.

Earlier, former Congress president had on May 29, said that the government must come clean and tell India exactly what’s happening between India and China.

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He took to Twitter and said, “The Government’s silence about the border situation with China is fueling massive speculation and uncertainty at a time of crisis. GOI must come clean and tell India exactly what’s happening.”

Congress MP had on May 26 as well, said that the government should come out clean on the situation arising at Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and inform the citizens about what is happening there.

Addressing a press conference through video conferencing, Gandhi had said, “The details of what happened along the border, the government should share with the people.”

He said, what happened with Nepal and why, what is happening in Ladakh should be made clear.

“I cannot see transparency. The issue of Ladakh and China is a live issue. Transparency is required,” he had said while responding to a question on the face-off on LAC that was triggered the Chinese objected to road construction and development of infrastructure by India within the Indian territory.

He further said that till the time there is no transparency, till that time it would not good for him to speak. “If I have more information then I will share more details on it,” he added.

Several areas along the LAC in Ladakh and North Sikkim have witnessed major military build-up by both the Indian and Chinese armies recently, in a clear signal of escalating tension and hardening of respective positions by the two sides even two weeks after they were engaged in two separate face-offs.

While the standoff between India and China is signalling that it could become the biggest military face-off after the Doklam crisis in 2017.

The situation in eastern Ladakh deteriorated after around 250 Chinese and Indian soldiers were engaged in a violent face-off on the evening of May 5 which spilled over to the next day before the two sides agreed to “disengage” following a meeting at the level of local commanders.

Over 100 Indian and Chinese soldiers were injured in the violence. The incident in Pangong Tso was followed by a similar incident in North Sikkim on May 9

The trigger for the face-off was China’s opposition to India laying a key road in the finger area around Pangong Tso Lake, besides construction of another road connecting Darbuk-Shayok-Daulat Beg Oldie road in Galwan Valley.

The nearly 3,500-km-long LAC is the de-facto border between the two countries.

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