GUWAHATI: In the wake of reports doing the rounds about Chinese troops’ incursion in Arunachal Pradesh and subsequent denial by Chinese authorities, junior defence and home ministers, Subhash Bhamre and Kiren Rijiju, visited the 4 Corps headquarters in Assam’s Tezpur where they held closed door meetings with senior Army and Air Force officers.
The duo, who arrived at the Corps headquarters on Monday evening, left for an undisclosed forward post in western Arunachal by road on Tuesday morning as their chopper could not take off due to inclement weather.
The Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army will sit together on October 1 during the “border personnel meet” (BPM) inside Chinese territory near Tawang. The two Union Ministers’ visit is perceived to be in connection with the formulation of strategies before the BPM. The Indian Army is likely to raise all outstanding issues with its Chinese counterpart in the meeting.
Meanwhile, defence establishments refused to share any details on the purpose of the Minister’s visit and their itinerary.
“What I know is that this is a normal routine visit,” defence sources told Express.
Asked about the Chinese troops’ purported incursion in Anjaw district of Arunachal on September 9, he said the personnel might have mistaken the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and slightly stepped into the Indian side.
The Anjaw district police told Express that the Chinese troops were seen “patrolling” very close to the LAC.
Earlier, a section of the media reported that the Chinese troopers had intruded 45km inside India and put up a temporary camp.
The visit of Bhamre and Rijiju to the 4 corps headquarters came close on the heels of the visit of Army chief General Dalbir Singh. During his visit in the first week of this month, the General had reviewed the defence preparedness of the corps which is deployed on the LAC.