Galwan valley face-off: No compromise on India's territorial integrity, says Defence Minister

The Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on June 17^th, 2020 took stock of the Galwan valley situation, where at least 20 soldiers were martyred, at a meeting in South Block attended by CDS, three services Chiefs.

“India is prepared to resolve the situation through discussions and there can be no compromise on India’s territorial integrity,” the minister said.

Singh tweeted, “The loss of soldiers in Galwan is deeply disturbing and painful. Our soldiers displayed exemplary courage and valour in the line of duty and sacrificed their lives in the highest traditions of the Indian Army.”

After Wreath laying in Leh today, the mortal remains of the three soldiers including that of the officer will be taken to their respective places.

Also read: Northeast concerns raised amid India-China standoff as sides suffered casualties’ in Galwan

At least 20 Indian Army soldiers were martyred in action in a violent face-off with Chinese soldiers in the Galwan area on June 15^th, 2020 night. This marked a sharp escalation in tensions between the two countries, who had reportedly been in the midst of a process of disengagement from their stand-off that began six weeks ago.

An Army release stated: “17 Indian troops who were critically injured in the line of duty at the stand off location and exposed to sub-zero temperatures in the high altitude terrain have succumbed to their injuries, taking the total that were killed in action to 20.”

The soldiers are Col Bikumalla Santosh Babu of Hyderabad, Nb Sub Nuduram Soren of Mayurbhanj, Nb Sub Mandeep Singh of Patiala, Nb Sub Satnam Singh of Gurdaspur, Hav (Gnr) K Palani of Madurai, hav Sunil Kumar of Patna, Hav Bipul Rou of Meerut city, NK (NA) Deepak Kumar of Rewa, Sep Rajesh Orang of Birghum, Sep Kunadan Kumar Ojha of Sahibganj, Sep Ganesh Ram of Kanker, Sep Chandrakanta Pradhan of Kandhamal, Sep Ankush of Hamirpur, Sep Gurbinder Singh of Sangrur, Sep Gurtej Singh of Mansa, Sep Chandan Kumar of Bhojpur, Sep Kundan Kumar of Saharsa, Sep Aman Kumar of Samstipur, Sep Jai Kishor Singh of Vaishali and Sep Ganesh Hansda of East Singhbhumi.

Meanwhile, the Chinese military’s statement on the violent clash in eastern Ladakh has claimed that the nation has not made directly for decades – sovereignty over entire the Galwan valley. Both the Chinese foreign ministry and army asserted that Indian troops had provoked the violence by crossing over to their territory.

On contrary to that, India claimed that China had violated the spirit of the border agreement, by not confining their troops to their traditional exercise grounds.

Galwan has a role in historical memory of the Sino-Indian conflict as it was the first Indian post that was overwhelmed by the Chinese in summer of 1962 – and was one of the first markers of the start of the war.

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