Rajnath Singh meets AK Antony, Sharad Pawar over China Border conflicts

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh recently held a meeting with former Defence ministers AK Antony and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar. The meeting happened just before the monsoon session of the Parliament which is scheduled to commence from July 19. The former defence ministers were briefed by Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Bipin Rawat & Army Chief Gen. Manoj Mukund Naravane on the ongoing conflict over the Sino-Indian border dispute. A tweet by ANI said that two former defence ministers had some clarifications and doubts on the situation which were further explained by the CDS and the Army chief.

Piyush Goyal reaches NCP Supremo's Delhi residence

In an interesting development on the matter, BJP's Rajya leader Piyush Goyal reached NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar's residence in Delhi to meet him on July 16, Friday. Pawar, accompanied by former Defence Minister AK Antony, was scheduled to meet Defence Minister Singh at 4 PM. It is speculated that Pawar will discuss security issues with Rajnath Singh during the meeting, among several other issues of Maharashtra.

What is the conflict with China in eastern Ladakh?

India and China were locked in a military standoff at multiple friction points in eastern Ladakh since early May last year. However, the two sides withdrew their troops and weapons from the North and South banks of Pangong lake in February following a series of military and diplomatic talks. The two sides are now in talks to extend the disengagement process about the friction points between both countries. India has been particularly pressing for disengagement of troops in Hot Springs, Gogra and Depsang.

According to military officials, each side currently has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along the LAC in the sensitive high altitude sector. There was no visible forward movement in disengagement of troops in the remaining friction points as the Chinese side did not show flexibility in their approach to this issue at the 11th round of military talks.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during an hour-long meeting on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Dushanbe that any unilateral change in the status quo along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is not acceptable to India. And only after the complete restoration of peace in Eastern Ladakh can relations develop in a holistic manner.

With inputs from ANI

Image Credits - PTI