Won’t allow anyone to come on our soil: Northern command chief
Lieutenant general Dwivedi said, “We are always operationally prepared on the Line of Control (LOC) and Line of Actual Control (LAC) to meet any challenges with Pakistan and China”
The situation in eastern Ladakh was very nice and being head of the Northern Command, I would not allow anyone to come on the Indian side, said Northern Command chief lieutenant general Upendra Dwivedi on Monday while fielding media queries during the three-day-long North Tech Symposium --2023 that began at the IIT Jammu.
Ladakh’s lieutenant governor Brigadier (retired) BD Mishra said “Not an inch of Indian land has been occupied.”
Lieutenant general Dwivedi said, “We are always operationally prepared on the Line of Control (LOC) and Line of Actual Control (LAC) to meet any challenges with Pakistan and China.”
“As an Army commander of the Northern Command, whatever I am guarding is our area and I will not allow anyone to come on the Indian side,” he responded to a pointed query on the situation in eastern Ladakh.
He asserted that the situation in Ladakh was “normal and very nice”.
It may be recalled here that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, during his nine-day-long Ladakh visit, had accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of peddling lies to the opposition over Chinese incursion in eastern Ladakh.
India and China have been locked in a protracted border standoff in eastern Ladakh for the past three years.
Ties between the two neighbours nosedived following a deadly clash in Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh in June 2020 when 20 Indian soldiers died in hand-to-hand combat with the Chinese troops.
On August 13 and 14, both the countries held 19th round of Corps Commander-level meetings at the Chushul-Moldo border.
General Dwivedi also informed that nearly 200 terrorists were waiting across the LoC in Pakistan.
“They are waiting to infiltrate but our alert troops are deployed at the borders and we are trying to eliminate them there itself,” he said.
On counter-terror operations, he said, “46 terrorists were killed in the past nine months out of whom 37 were foreign terrorists and nine were locals. Owing to our relentless CI and CT operations, people now say that normalcy is in the offing.”
He, however, attributed the sudden spike in terrorism in the two border districts of Rajouri and Poonch to Pakistan’s desperation.
“Despite being embroiled in economic crises and other problems, Pakistan continues to fuel terrorism in a bid to disturb peace,” he said.
“Whenever there’s peace, Pakistan tries to disturb it. And, when they don’t get local terrorists, they send foreign terrorists,” added the officer.
The Northern Army commander said while the Army remained fully prepared at the LoC and LAC, Rashtriya Rifles were doing “very good” work in CI and CT operations (anti-terror operations) in the hinterland.
On drones, he said, “So far as drone technology is concerned, we have inducted a lot of equipment. Since drone technology keeps improving, we have to enhance our counter-drone technology.”
He informed that the participants at the symposium have brought with them the latest technologies, which will enhance the counter-drone technologies of the Army, be it software or dynamics.
Meanwhile, reacting to Rahul’s remarks on China taking over Indian land in eastern Ladakh, BD Mishra said, “I will not comment on what Rahul Gandhi has said but I can comment on what I have seen on the ground. The fact is that not a single inch of land has been occupied.”