The challenge facing both parties concerning the LAC is present at an enormously high level in the eastern Ladak region. The defense minister, Rajnath Singh, confirmed that the talks between these two sides are going well, and he also expressed his hope that such a kind of military unrest or standoff will be brought to an end soon.
In a talk to PTI on Saturday, Mr. Singh added to this that, being adjacent to the frontier with China, India has been developing infrastructure at an extraordinary pace. According to him, the nation’s borders are exceptionally secure.
He said, “The talks are going great.”
Of course, he could not expand on the sensitive nature of the dialogue process, a process that for all these years has been the only channel for demanding freedom.
Asked whether he was hopeful of a positive outcome and an end to the nearly four-year face-off between the two militaries, Mr. Singh shot back:
“If opportunities are disregarded, then what is the need for the talks (the Chinese part)? They also have an opportunity, and that’s why they hold the talks.”
The Indian and Chinese armies have been at loggerheads since May 2020, and I am not yet sure whether the two sides would have ever accommodated each other to resolve the border row. According to the talks, they were able to disengage themselves from a number of flash points on the border, but the situation is still the same as before, as the border has not yet maintained its normal routine.
The defense minister, too, took a rhetorical jibe at Congress for having never ceased talking to the government about the practical standoff in eastern Ladakh.
