- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
BORDER incidents between India and China will not cease till a boundary pact is reached between the two countries, Indian Army chief General M M Naravane on Thursday (30) said.
Addressing an audience at the annual session meeting of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi, Naravane spoke on China. He said, “… we have an outstanding border issue. We are again well prepared to meet any misadventure that may occur as we have demonstrated in the past.
“Such kinds of incidents will continue to occur till such time that a long-term solution is reached, and that is to have a boundary agreement. And that should be the thrust of our efforts so that we have lasting peace along the northern (China) border,” he added.
The current border standoff between the two nuclear-powered neighbours erupted in May 2020 following a violent clash in the Pangong Lake area in Ladakh. Both sides enhanced their deployment in the area by rushing in tens of thousands of soldiers and heavy weaponry.
The row between India and China escalated following clashes in the Galwan Valley on June 15 last year. Personnel on both sides died in the clashes and following a series of military and diplomatic talks, India and China completed the disengagement process in Gogra area in eastern Ladakh in August. In February, the two sides completed withdrawal of troops and weapons from the northern and southern banks of the Pangong Lake in line with the agreement on disengagement.
The Indian Army chief also spoke on the situation in Afghanistan that evolved following the Taliban’s return to power in mid-August. He said the developments in Afghanistan “have definitely been the focus” of the Indian Army which continues to evaluate threat perceptions and formulate strategies accordingly.
On Afghanistan, Naravane said the Indian Army “or the armed forces for that matter continue to carry out periodic evaluation of threat perceptions”.
Based on those evaluations, the Indian Army formulates strategies and doctrines that are needed to meet future threats, he said.
“This is a continuous process that never stops,” he added.
As far as the terrorist threat is concerned, the Indian Army is ready to meet all challenges, Naravane said. “We have a very dynamic counterinsurgency and counterterrorist grid in Jammu and Kashmir. It is a dynamic grid and it is based on threat perception and the escalating levels of attempts by our western neighbour (Pakistan) to push in more and more terrorists,” he said.
