No intrusion, no post under occupation: PMSays armed forces given free hand to defend bordersK V Prasad

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 19

Emphasising that there was neither any intrusion into India’s territory nor any of its post under occupation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the country’s armed forces were doing what was required for its defence.

Stating that the armed forces were given a free hand to take the necessary steps to defend the borders, he said be it deployment, action or counter-action, the country’s forces were doing whatever was required across land, sea and air.

This was the first interaction of PM Modi with leaders of political parties following the violent clashes in the Galwan valley in Ladakh earlier this week. The video-conference meet came with its share of controversy with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Aam Aadmi Party taking exception for not being there under a yardstick of limiting participation to parties with at least five MPs.

The PM said the country had the capability and no one could dare to eye even an inch of India’s land. During the past few years priority was accorded to fortify the borders with special emphasis on infrastructure.

It was because of this infrastructure that the capacity to patrol had increased, which in turn allowed increased vigil and knowledge about activities on the LAC. The Indian forces were now patrolling areas not possible earlier. The soldiers were carrying out confrontations in such areas, leading to rise in tension, he said.

The boycott of Chinese goods, prevention of dumping of low-quality merchandise by China and a mood of intense anger against things China were flagged by three participants with one suggesting Covid19 as a possible biological weapon, sources privy to the discussions said.

Hailing the bravery of armed forces, leaders of the political parties expressed commitment to the government stand. The meeting was not without its share of strong questions coming from the Congress, with Sonia Gandhi while urging the PM to ensure status quo would be restored and China moved back. She sought to know the way forward. Seeking to know the sequence of events leading to the loss of 20 Indian soldiers, she sought to know if the government thought of the development a failure of intelligence

Mamata Banerjee said her party stood strongly in solidarity with the government. Nitish Kumar said that there should be no differences amongst the leaders and parties should not allow any disunity which could be exploited by other nations.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) said the government should initiate talks so that steps are taken to clearly demarcate the LAC to maintain peace and tranquillity on the border. Party general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the party favoured extending support to the stand taken by India in talks between the two Foreign Ministers that neither side would take any action to escalate matters and instead ensure peace and tranquillity as per bilateral agreements and protocols.