Situation at LAC ‘not normal’, India wants it to be restored: Army Chief

Terming the current situation at the Line of Actual Control (LAC)- the de facto India-China border – as sensitive and “not normal”, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi has reiterated India’s position, saying the country wants it to be restored to what it was before April 2020.

The Army Chief made the comments while speaking at the Chanakya Defense Dialogue in the national capital on Tuesday.

“As far as China is concerned, it has been intriguing our minds for quite some time. With China, you have to compete, cooperate, coexist, confront, and contest… So what’s the situation today? It’s stable, but it’s not normal and it’s sensitive. We want the situation to be restored to what it was before April 2020, whether in terms of the ground occupation situation or the buffer zones which have been created or patrolling which have been kind of planned as of now. So until that situation is restored, as far as we are concerned, the situation will remain sensitive and we are fully operationally prepared to face any kind of contingency… Trust has become the biggest casualty,” the Army Chief was quoted as saying by media reports.

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China, in April 2020, attempted to transgress the Indian side of the LAC. The attempt was thwarted by the Indian forces. However, since then tension prevails in eastern Ladakh region bordering China.

China’s diplomatic ties with India have been affected badly after the incident.

India and China held two rounds of diplomatic talks in July and August to find an early resolution of outstanding issues in relation to the LAC.

A few days ago, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar described India’s diplomatic ties with China as “very significantly disturbed”.

“The positive signaling is coming from the diplomatic side, but what we need to understand (is that) the diplomatic side gives options and possibilities,” the Army Chief added