India ready for any contingency, efforts on to resolve LAC situation peacefully, say Air Force chief

Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria on Saturday said that India’s armed forces are well prepared and suitably deployed to respond to any contingency, adding that the sacrifice of personnel killed in a violent face-off with Chinese troops at Galwan Valley in Ladakh would not go in vain, PTI reported.

Bhadauria was addressing a combined graduation parade at the Air Force Academy near Hyderabad. “The gallant actions of our soldiers who lost their lives during the confrontation with the Chinese forces has demonstrated the resolve to protect the sovereignty of our country at any cost,” he said. “It should be very clear that we are well prepared and suitably deployed to respond to any contingency. I assure the nation that we are determined to deliver and will never let the sacrifice of our braves of Galwan go in vain.”

The clash on Monday night in the Galwan Valley resulted in the death of 20 Indian Army soldiers. This is the first instance of casualties on the Line of Actual Control since 1975. It came amidst a “de-escalation” process in the Galwan area that was started last week, after a month-long standoff between troops at several points along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh and Sikkim. Though some reports have said that around 40 Chinese soldiers died during these clashes, China has not responded to this.