Army Refutes Reports, Says Jawans Not Detained by China at Border

It only hurts national interests when media outlets publish unsubstantiated news,” an Indian Army spokesperson said.

The Indian Army on Sunday, 24 May, issued a denial of reports which had claimed that Indian soldiers had been detained at the China border.

“We categorically deny this. It only hurts national interests when media outlets publish unsubstantiated news,” Indian Army spokesperson Colonel Aman Anand said, according to news agency ANI.

Reports on Saturday had claimed, quoting sources, that an Indian patrol party of the army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) had been detained after tensions between the Indian and Chinese forces earlier this week.

According to the report, the Indian jawans had later been released by the Chinese forces, after a meeting between commanders of both sides.

The report, quoting a senior bureaucrat, also said that weapons of the ITBP jawans had also been snatched but later handed back.

General Naravane Visits Ladakh, Reviews Situation

Tensions have been on the rise of late between the Indian and Chinese forces stationed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh.

On Friday, Army Chief General MM Naravane visited the Leh-based 14 Corps headquarters to review the situation there.

ANI reported that General Naravane was briefed by top military field Commanders in Leh, which included Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General YK Joshi and 14 Corps Chief Lieutenant General Harinder Singh.

According to The Indian Express, there has been an increase in the number of Chinese incursions into the Indian side of the LAC in Ladakh – 170 such instances have been recorded in the first four months of 2020.

There were also two instances of clashes between troops in eastern Ladakh and in the Nakula sector in Sikkim, where personnel from both sides were left injured.

However, Army Chief Naravane said that the two cases were not “interconnected” or part of a “bigger plan.” The face-off between the Chinese People’s Liberation Army troops and Indian troops is nothing new, he had said in an interview to ANI.

(With inputs from ANI, NDTV and The Indian Express.)