Ahead of PM’s visit, Army, PLA plan hotline link

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria

Tribune News Service

Udhampur, May 4

To quickly resolve incidents of stand-offs and ensure peace, India and China will soon have more meeting points between their respective armies on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh with a hotline link at the local level. 

The two nuclear-capable countries will also have a hotline link between their Army headquarters in New Delhi and Beijing.  The current year has witnessed 59 face-offs and 268 incidents of transgressions on the LAC.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Beijing this month to propel ties.

On the 744-km Line of Control (LoC) with a hostile Pakistan, India is in the final stages of getting more teeth in the form of a sophisticated border fence with a lot of sensors and night-vision devices on it. In an exclusive interview with The Tribune, Northern Army Commander Lt Gen DS Hooda said, “There is an understanding between us (India and China) to have more meeting points along the LAC in Ladakh. Right now, we have only one (Chushul). We are moving forward and soon, we will have additional meeting points with hotline link for troops on both the sides." 

General Hooda said that situation on the LAC was largely peaceful. "Since there is no well-defined LAC, incidents of transgressions do occur. Both the sides patrol areas up to their perception (of LAC). So these activities continue but there is an understanding between us to keep peace. The series of border meetings in the past few days is in league with that," he said. He said that talks were on to have a hotline link between Beijing and New Delhi.

On Siachen, he said that it was peaceful and stable. "There is less likelihood of the adversary indulging into any mischief. The troops are alert and they are provided the best of facilities," he said.

On the new type of fence to be erected at the LoC, he said, "We are looking at three new designs. We have already done the trials and it has been put up at Shamshabari (Kupwara). As soon as the snow melts, we will get to know the effect of snow on it. The new design has integrated modern sensors and night-vision devices."

"I think it will be more effective. We have not gone for any foreign country because the technology was available with us," he said.

The Northern Army Commander said that there were nearly 1,500 militants in various training camps in PoK and 250 to 300 of them have been kept in various launch pads on the other side of the LoC in the Jammu region.

"Things are quiet as of now on the other side of the LoC in the Kashmir region. Once the snow melts, their (militants) number and activities will go up," he said.

When asked how real the threat of the Taliban and ISIS to Jammu and Kashmir was, the General said that till date, there were no tell-tale signs of them either in J&K or its frontiers.

"Their footprints are largely seen on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border but they certainly are a cause for concern," he said.

There had been reports that Taliban may divert its "fighters" to J&K to wage a war against the Indian security forces while the waving of ISIS and Al-Qaida flags in Kashmir last year had aroused concern in the higher echelons of the Army.

On the spurt in terror attacks by armed Pakistani militants along the 198-km-long International Border (IB), he said that the IB had become active since October 2013.

"The BSF has got some plans to put some additional troops in the second tier also. It has been improving its posture. We are there and I think our tier behind the BSF is adequate," he said.