India-China military commanders’ meeting at LAC ends after a marathon 11 hours

The Indian and Chinese militaries on Monday held a second round of Lt General-level talks in an attempt to ease tensions between the two countries following the violent clashes in Galwan Valley that left 20 Indian Army personnel dead, even as country's top army leadership carried out a detailed review of the situation in eastern Ladakh. The meeting began at around 11:30 am at Moldo on the Chinese side of Chushul sector in eastern Ladakh and continued till night. The focus of the deliberations was on finalising modalities for disengagement of troops in eastern Ladakh, people familiar with the issue said. The first round of the Lt Gen talks was held on June 6 at the same venue during which both sides finalised an agreement to disengage gradually from all standoff points beginning with Galwan Valley. 

However, the situation along the border deteriorated following the violent clashes on June 15 as the two sides significantly bolstered their deployments in most areas along the 3,500-km de-facto border. Though China has not revealed its casualty figure, there were reports that a commanding officer of the Chinese army was among those killed in the clashes. There is no official confirmation about it. Separately, the top army commanders on Monday held a detailed deliberation on the eastern Ladakh standoff and on the overall situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China after the Galwan Valley clashes, official sources said. The Indian delegation at the talks in Moldo was led by 14 Corps Commander Lt Gen Harinder Singh while the Chinese was headed by the Commander of the Tibet Military District. Ahead of the meeting, sources said the Indian delegation would raise the Galwan Valley clashes, the most serious military confrontation between India and China in more than 50 years.