Advocating aggressive steps to take back the Galwan Valley territory seized by the Chinese, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday urged the Government of India to issue an ultimatum to Beijing to vacate the occupied land immediately, with a clear warning that failure to do so would lead to serious consequences for them.
While India would also have to suffer some consequences of such an act, it could no longer afford to allow such intrusions and attacks on its territorial integrity to continue, said Captain Amarinder, talking informally to media persons at the Chandigarh airbase where he had gone to pay tributes to the three sepoys whose mortal remains were flown in from Galwan Valley.
Laying a wreath on the mortal remains of Sepoys Gurbinder Singh from Sangrur, Gurtej Singh from Mansa and Ankush from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, Captain Amarinder saluted their supreme sacrifice and said the nation was forever indebted to them.
Declaring himself to be totally against following an appeasement policy viz-a-viz China, Captain Amarinder said past experience showed that when faced with aggression, the Chinese had always backed off. It was time to call their bluff, he asserted, reiterating that every Indian wants a befitting response to be given to the Chinese.
"The Chinese, with their Salami tactics, had been nibbling into Indian territory piece by piece since 1962," said the Chief Minister, demanding an end to these intrusions, which 60 years of diplomacy had failed to stop.
The Chief Minister recalled that during his term with the Army, armed soldiers were always strategically deployed whenever their senior officers went for meetings with the other side and were ready to jump in for rescue operation if needed. "Why were soldiers not so deployed in this case? And if they were, why did they not use their weapons to rescue the officers and men under attack?" he asked.
If the situation is allowed to escalate further, then China, in collusion with Pakistan, would get further emboldened to encroach into more Indian territories, which had to be stopped at all costs, said the Chief Minister.
( With inputs from ANI )