iNDICA NEWS BUREAU
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi Friday said no one had intruded into India’s territory in Ladakh and neither was any Indian post captured.
Twenty brave soldiers were martyred, but they had taught a lesson to those who had dared to look askance at Mother India, Modi said in Hindi in a video message.
The statement was made at the all-party meet the prime minister convened on the border situation Friday, five days after 20 Indian soldiers were killed with stones and clubs studded with nails, 76 were injured and 10 Indian Army men, including officers, were taken captive at Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh.
China released the 10 Indians Thursday evening after Major General-level talks between the two armies.
Modi’s statement sparked furious debate over whether it meant India signaling it was ready to tolerate Chinese aggression.
Beijing has maintained that the incident happened on its side of the Line of actual Control. Indian strategic affairs experts have pointed out that Galwan Valley is named after Ladakhi explorer Ghulam Rasool Galwan and the Chinese apparently don’t even have a name for the area.
Retired Indian Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju tweeted: “Modi said no 1 entered our borders. Let him answer(1)Does Galwan valley belong 2India?(2) If it does, has China occupied it ?Is that not entering our border?(3) R any steps being taken 2recover it, or r we going 2accept this illegal occupation by China ? India is entitled 2know”
India’s defense minister, Rajnath Singh, tweeted in Hindi: “Prime minister @narendramodi has reassured all political parties in the all-party meeting held today that India’s forces are fully capable of defending the borders. The army has been given full leeway to take appropriate action. He has made the entire situation clear in public today.”
