PM Modi visits Ladakh, interacts with Army, Air Force personnel

PM Narendra Modi made a visit to tension-infested Ladakh today. Narendra Modi has reached Ladakh and is now interacting with personnel of the Indian Army, Air Force and ITBP at a forward post at 11,000 feet. Later PM Modi may also address the 14 Corps officials and meet soldiers who were injured in the Galwan Valley clash.

PM Modi will also take stock of the security situation along with Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Bipin Rawat and the Northern Army Commander officials Lt Gen YK Joshi and Lt Gen Harinder Singh and 14 Corps officials in Ladakh.

PM Narendra Modi is presently at one of the forward locations in Nimu. He reached there early in on Friday morning. PM Modi is interacting with personnel of the Indian Army, Air Force and ITBP. Located at 11,000 feet, this is among the toughest of terrains, surrounded by the Zanskar range and on the banks of the Indus.

PM Modi’s Ladakh visit assumes significance as the government first rescheduled Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s visit to Leh and now the PM Modi is visiting instead.

PM Modi’s visit comes weeks after the violent clash between Indian Army personnel and Chinese troops in Galwan Valley on June 15 that left 20 Indian soldiers dead and over 70 others injured.

This is the first visit by a minister during bitter border dispute with China. Earlier, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was supposed to visit Ladakh, which was rescheduled.

PM Modi is accompanied by CDS Gen Bipin Rawat and Army Chief MM Naravane. The Army Chief visited Ladakh on June 23 and 24 during which he held a series of meetings with senior Army officials and visited various forward areas in eastern Ladakh.

The Indian and Chinese militaries have held a series of meetings in the border area to defuse the tension, however, the meetings have not resulted in any concrete solution. Both the militaries had agreed on de-escalation.

Indian and Chinese armies have emphasised the need for an “expeditious, phased and step wise” de-escalation as a “priority” to end the seven-week bitter standoff in eastern Ladakh, during a nearly 12-hour corps commander-level meeting on Tuesday.