Capt Amarinder Singh expresses anger and shock over killing of 3 Army personnel in Ladakh

Expressing anger over the violent clash in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley, which led to loss of life of an Army officer and two soldiers, Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh on Tuesday called for a strong response from Indian government to repeated violations of the Indian territory by Chinese forces.

“Our soldiers are not fair game that every few days officers and men should be killed or injured defending our borders,” a furious Amarinder Singh said, reacting strongly to the development, which came even as the armies on the two sides were supposed to be in the process of disengagement from a tense stand-off for the past several days.

“It is time now for India to stand up to these repeated incursions that are a blatant violation of our territorial rights and put a stop to such attacks on our territorial integrity,” said the Punjab Chief Minister, asserting that every sign of weakness on the part of India makes the Chinese reaction more belligerent.

While it was important to defuse the tensions at the border, and India was not in favour of war, Capt Amarinder Singh said the country could not afford to show weakness at this time and needed to take a strong stand to deter the Chinese from any further intrusions and attacks on its territories and men.

Even after brutally beating the Indian Army officer and two soldiers to death, Beijing was feigning innocence, and trying to put the blame on India, accusing it of provoking the conflict through ‘unilateral actions,’ the he pointed out. Such reaction on the part of China was typical of its duplicity, he said, adding that the escalation of tensions in the Ladakh sector of the Indo-China border were the direct consequence of incursions by Chinese troops into Indian territory.

The Chinese actions were in direction violation of all the treaties signed between the two countries and a brazen assault on Indian integrity, said Capt. Amarinder Singh, urging the Central government to take suitable steps to send out a strong message that it would not take such attacks lying down.

Referring to the rising tensions at the Indo-Pak and Indo-Nepal borders also in the recent weeks, the Chief Minister said the country was clearly surrounded by forces seeking to destabilise its peace by taking advantage of the COVID-19 crisis. “Let them be warned that India will not compromise on national security at any cost, and is capable of combating external challenges even as it continues to battle the pandemic internally,” he asserted.

Paying tributes to those who had lost their lives in the Galwan Valley violence, Capt. Amarinder Singh said the whole nation today stands with the Indian Army in their hour of grief.