Owaisi dares PM Modi to publicly shame China amid LAC faceoff, questions preparedness

Speaking in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi lashed out at the Centre's approach pertaining to the faceoff with China at the Line of Actual Control. During the discussion on Motion of Thanks on the President's address, Owaisi claimed that the Union government was not avenging the Galwan Valley martyrs. Alleging that India is still unable to patrol at PP4 to PP8 along the LAC, he lambasted the Centre of lacking the courage to question China on the construction of a village in Arunachal Pradesh. However, it has already been clarified that the aforesaid village falls in an area which is under effective Chinese control since 1959.

Repeating his allegation that China has encroached on Indian territory, the Hyderabad MP dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to name the neighbouring country directly during his reply on Motion of Thanks on the President's address. Moreover, he pointed out that China was continuously enhancing its troops' presence and infrastructure at the LAC. In this context, the AIMIM supremo asked the Centre to outline its preparedness for the onset of the summer when the People's Liberation Army is likely to attack the Indian forces. Moreover, Owaisi contended that the Centre was focused on ramping up infrastructure at the Delhi borders to contain the farmers protesting against the agrarian laws rather than tackling the Chinese aggression. 

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What is the LAC faceoff? 

The faceoff at the Line of Actual Control was exacerbated when 21 Indian Army soldiers including a Commanding Officer were martyred in the Galwan Valley on June 15, 2020, when the de-escalation process was underway. This was followed by multiple attempts of provocation by the Chinese side at the end of August. Multiple rounds of military commander-level and WMCC meetings have taken place between the two sides to resolve the crisis. Besides this, EAM S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh have met their respective counterparts. 

The 20th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) took place on December 18, 2020. The developments along the LAC were reviewed and both sides agreed to work towards ensuring complete disengagement as per the agreements reached between the respective Foreign Ministers and Special Representatives. Furthermore, they acknowledged that the 7th and 8th round of military commander-level talks had contributed to ensuring "stability on the ground". On January 24, the 9th round of Corps Commander-level talks was held to work out a phased disengagement and de-escalation plan. 

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