Keep calm over Doklam: India asks troops not to get provoked in face of Chinese aggression

Rattled by India’s tough stance in the Doklam stand-off, the Chinese Army may try to provoke Indian troops by carrying out incursions in different locations but the forces have been asked to deal the situation with calmness to prevent any escalation of the situation. Amid the situation in Doklam, Chinese Army troops tried to enter the Indian side in two areas – Finger Four and Finger Five – twice between 6am and 9am. But on both the occasions their attempts were thwarted by alert Indian troops. “Indian agencies have assessed that after Ladakh, Chinese Army will try to do more such incidents in Himachal, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal sector. The troops have been asked to remain on alert and thwart any such misadventure by Chinese. However, the security agencies have been told not to be provoked and deal the situation with calmness to prevent any escalation,” government sources said here. During the Pangong lake incident, the Chinese troops had started hurling stones at the Indian border guards and situation was brought under control only after the two sides observed the banner drill and went back to their respective positions. During the scuffle, the Indian troops had suffered minor injuries also but fortunately, the confrontation did not escalate much. Sources said the two sides may have more flag meetings in different areas to sort out the issues but ruled out any immediate resolution of the ongoing stand-off at Doklam. The sources said the government has asked the troops to be on alert to thwart such attacks. Even as the standoff continues, the government is working towards creating new infrastructure on the Line of Actual Control for both the ITBP and the Army. The sources said it was most likely that the PLA would try to carry out more incursions in the vast Eastern Ladakh area which is guarded by the Lehbased 14 Corps but the vigil is high in all the sectors. The Chinese troops had carried out transgressions in the Barahoti area in Uttarakhand twice in the recent times even as it had threatened to enter the Kalapani area as a reaction to the Doklam issue. For more than a month, Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged in a stand-off in Doklam area in Bhutan. China has been trying to expand its infrastructure in that area as it wants to disturb the status quo in the area and move the trijunction between the three countries further south to get closer to India’s chicken’s neck corridor in Siliguri. idrw.org .Read more at India No 1 Defence News Website http://idrw.org/keep-calm-over-doklam-india-asks-troops-not-to-get-provoked-in-face-of-chinese-aggression/ .