News and Views on Tibet

New updates: 20 Indian soldiers dead, 43 Chinese casualties after LAC clash

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Indian patrol troops in the sub sector North along the LAC (photo thehindu)
Indian patrol troops in the sub sector North along the LAC (photo thehindu)

By Tenzin Dharpo

DHARAMSHALA, June 17: The Indian Army has made new revelations late Tuesday night that confirmed the death of 20 Indian soldiers marking a sharp rise from the earlier tally of just 3. While China has made no confirmation on the casualty of their side, ANI reported there have been 43, including those who have died, in the Chinese side following the violent clash on Monday night.

Hours after its initial statement, the Indian army issued another on Tuesday which said “17 Indian troops who were critically injured in the line of duty” who later died from their injuries, taking the “total that were killed in action to 20”. TOI cited an unnamed military source who said, “Our radio and other intercepts indicate there were 43 casualties in the PLA ranks, which include both the dead and seriously injured. The situation is fluid on the ground, but no firing has taken place yet.”

Sources say that while no bullets were fired, deaths have resulted from hand to hand combat, improvised weapons like nail spiked clubs and many who fell from cliffs during the violent clash on Monday night in the Galwan valley in Ladakh.

The flashpoint for the standoff is said to be China’s objection to India developing a strategic bridge and roads in the Galwan valley, a supply route to its forward bases. However, the President of the exile Tibetan government, known officially as the Central Tibetan Administration, Dr. Lobsang Sangay said that apart form expansionist Chinese objectives, engaging the frontier in Ladakh may also be to divert public attention from the Covid-19 crisis in the mainland.

Many say that the deaths on either side may add more fuel to the ongoing tension. The last deaths at the LAC were in 1975 when an Indian patrol was ambushed by Chinese soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh.

The Tibetan President on Tuesday said that deaths of Indian soldiers are “uncalled for” and said the two countries must talk to avoid military confrontation and make the area demilitarized. Dr. Sangay said that India needs to learn from the Tibet narrative and how the Chinese leadership mind-set works moving forward while urging that a lasting peace between the two countries will only come after resolving the Tibetan issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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