Cancel Khurshid’s China visit: Rajnath

Against the backdrop of a fortnight-long incursion by China in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP on Sunday demanded that External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid’s scheduled visit to Beijing on May 9 be cancelled till Chinese soldiers withdrew from Debsang bulge near Daulat Beg Oldi.

BJP president Rajnath Singh, referring to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army soldiers’ transgression, said, “Despite all these, our Foreign Minister is going to China on a visit. I am sorry, but I would humbly request the Prime Minister to stop him.”

Rajnath was addressing the Matri Shree Awards function here when he also noted: “Till the time China leaves Ladakh and goes back, there should not be any visit to Beijing.”

A week after the Chinese incursions, Khurshid had announced that he would go to Beijing on May 9. His visit is aimed at finalising schedules and fixing the agenda for the visit of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang later that month. Since it is the first ever foreign tour by the Chinese leader since he took over as the premier earlier this year, India is attaching a lot of importance to the visit.

The BJP chief also demanded that the government hand over responsibility of guarding the 650-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China in Jammu and Kashmir to the Army instead of ITBP, which is currently posted there.

“The area where China has infiltrated was under the Army till 2010. The government pulled out the Army from there and handed it over to the ITBP, which falls under the Home Ministry. I request that the area under ITBP be handed back to the Army without any delay, because no other force can work there. It is a very sensitive matter and our country is facing grave danger from outside,” he said.

Noting that China encircling India was not a recent development, Rajnath said he had attracted the government’s attention to this phenomenon five years ago.

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