Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday met Congress leader AK Antony and NCP chief Sharad Pawar and was briefed about the current situation in the region along the border line with China in eastern Ladakh, people familiar with the development said. . He said some details about India’s military preparedness in the region were provided during the meeting to former defense ministers, including Chief of Defense Staff General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief General MM Naravane.
The meeting is being seen as an attempt by Singh to reach out to the opposition ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament beginning July 19. However, no official comment was made about the meeting. Earlier in the day, Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal also met opposition leaders including Pawar and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Congress has already indicated that it will raise the border dispute with China in Parliament. While Antony served as India’s Defense Minister from October 2006 to May 2014, Pawar served in the position from June 1991 to March 1993.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Dushanbe on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting on Wednesday. During the talks, Jaishankar strongly conveyed to Wang that prolonging the current situation in eastern Ladakh was impacting bilateral relations “in a negative way” and lamented that since the dissolution in the Pangong Lake areas in February There was no forward movement.
In the meeting, the two foreign ministers agreed to hold the next round of military talks at the earliest to discuss all remaining issues. The disengagement process between the two armies in the remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh has come as a stalemate after troops and weapons were withdrawn from the Pangong Lake areas in February following a series of military and diplomatic talks to resolve the standoff.
The standoff at several friction points in eastern Ladakh began in early May last year. Both sides are now engaged in talks to extend the process of separation to the remaining friction points.
India has been convinced that the full restoration and maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas is essential for the development of overall relations between the two sides.
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