New Delhi: China Thursday evening returned 10 Indian soldiers, who had been in their custody since Monday’s clash in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, after a prolonged discussion at the major general level. The 10 soldiers included two majors and two captains.
As many as 20 Indian soldiers, including the Commanding Officer of 16 Bihar Colonel Santosh Babu, were killed in action in Monday’s clash.
The Army had issued a statement Thursday saying “it is clarified that no Indian troops are missing in action”. While it did not mention the release, the statement was a clear indication that the soldiers have returned.
Sources in the defence and security establishment said the main focus of the high-level talks since Tuesday had been the release of the Indian soldiers. The issue was also discussed during the diplomatic parleys going on between the two countries.
Official sources also told ThePrint that it was always the understanding that information about such sensitive matters will not be released unless both sides come to an “amicable solution”, which is the release of the 10 soldiers.
The announcement by the Ministry of External Affairs that no soldiers were missing in action was made only after it was ascertained through diplomatic channels that China would be releasing them, the sources said.
Both sides have held several rounds of talks at diplomatic and military levels to ease tensions and are now looking to soon have a dialogue on the border affairs under the ‘Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on Border Affairs (WMCC)’.
Also read: India, China agree to implement 6 June ‘disengagement understanding’ to ensure peace at LAC
Military-level talks to continue
ThePrint had reported Tuesday that several Indian soldiers taken captive by China were returned following talks at a higher level on the same day.
However, it was learnt Wednesday morning that 10 soldiers are still missing. By afternoon, it was learnt that the 10 unaccounted for were in Chinese custody.
Sources said the Chinese had presented the captive soldiers to the Indian team Wednesday to show they were fine and not tortured.
According to the sources, all 10 soldiers walked back with the Indian team Thursday evening, indicating there were no major injuries.
The sources said the military-level talks will continue Friday as part of the earlier process to ease the tensions.
While there is a heavy build-up by the Chinese on its side of the Galwan Valley, the Finger areas of Pangong continue to be a problem.
The Chinese have come in till Finger 4 and have built structures to block the Indian patrol from moving ahead from that point till Finger 8, which is the LAC for India.
Latest satellite imagery reveals that massive construction has been done by China in this area.
Also read: India likely to review rules of engagement at LAC after Galwan Valley clash
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First abhinandan and now this. When will we see the day we have foreign captives and their countries are begging us to release them.
Agree with Seshadri chariji. But if he has such extra knowledge about China, he must influence present government from his party to act instead of merely writing articles!!
Reason is simple: ind ian army in incompetent
If the Chinese had not entered into our territory then how come our 10 soldiers were taken captive by the Chinese. Moreover where did the actual scuffle take place ?
In no man’s land ??
This is really surprising isn’t it ?
Why you promoting a fake news
Whatis the authentication of your take.Is it your sources which says captivity of Indian soldiers or some trusted news agencies. But no official government declared it.Neither PM Modi today evening confirmed it.
China has issued statement that no Indian soldiers were kept captive.
There is no indian soldiers are detained by china. Don’t make fake news
The picture gets murkier with every passing day. No clear information as to what is happening at the LAC is coming out neither from the government nor from the mainstream media. The news that is coming out is either too jingoistic or outright and blind criticism. Why the government is so parsimonious with regard to sharing the information with the public? This information blackout has given rise to many rumour mills spreading disinformation. its time the government should come up with authentic information and share it with the people of India.
There were no Chinese captive as we were quit less in numbers at the same time their attack was pre planned so due to these reason we faced casualties and lost our soldiers, so nothing to bother this was not like a battle between soldiers it was like a Street fight where they were more in numbers and well prepared to trap our men
Fake news…no Indian army soldiers detrained by Chinese army. Kindly, after proper investigation and ensuring authentic source of information, then post such news. Yesterday only, Indian officials clearly mentioned in the statement that no Indian soldier is missing. And still such news is trending shows the fake and anti Indin propoganda
The article is rich in description of history, poor in the objective annalysis.
Author is of the view that move of Chinese across the LAC should have been not seen as a issue of Border Management but as a move to capture territory. Similar moves have been made by the Chinese in the past in Depsang, Chumar, DBO, etc as author himself has brought out. All these were seen as Border Managenent issues & settled over a period. There was no reason not to see this intrusion as in the past.Moblisation of Chinese has been later where they brought in troops after an exercise in nearby areas. Similar mobilisations are also carried out by Indian Army during this period while exercising troops during this season which got delayed this year due to Carona issue. The fact that negotiations between military commanders of both sides at various levels were going on , would indicate that this issue was Border Management issue & was to be dealt with in accordance with protocols agreed by both countries. In a war like situation negotiations between rival Commander do not happen.
As per 1993 & 1996 agreement soldiers are to carry the weapons on patrolling but are not to be used against the opponent. Col Babu & 16 BIHAR soldiers were carrying weapons so would have been the Chinese. Chinese attacked not with weapons but with stones & nailed batons etc.They were responded to by 16 BIHAR accordingley without weapons. The response of 16 BIHAR was effective is borne out by the fact that Chinese have suffered about 43 casualties. Auhor is suggesting use of weapons by both sides in such a close combat situation. It would have led to casualties in 100s on both sides.A less than professional suggestion . The brawl is most probably the result of the Chinese commander at local level loosing head. It had happened in the past also.Had Chinese seen it more than a Border Management issue or on instructions from higher levels they will have ambushed Col Babu & party by firing.
It was a border management issue that got out of hand due to foolishness by Chinese at local level in which both sides suffered casualties.
Pang was Army Commander Northern Command but mid way through his command he was removed & sent to a peace command. Frustration of not being allowed to complete an active command should not be wrecked on the Indian Atmy. Should rember old soldiers fade away & not become activists & start finding fault with those on whose hands the defence of country lies now.
This news is confusing chinise media should gave statement and photos videos like as Avinandan s captivity in Pakistan
Not really, the capture here is clearly due to being outnumbered. That is not something to be proud of, if chinese, or embarrassed if Indian. Its a failure and abuse by the Chinese of the no weapons policy at the LAC. This must be scrapped. Chinese would not have been this brazen if they knew would be shot.
All this is extremely puzzling. Our soldiers had guns it is said, but they kept brawling not for ten-twenty minutes but for many hours, they kept bleeding and even saw their colleagues getting killed, and yet they did not pull out their guns??!! This is humanly impossible.
All this does not add up for me. My conclusions are these : 1) our soldiers had guns but they were not loaded, which is as good as not having guns 2) The Chinese did not use guns because they did not have to – – they had prepared for the “meeting” therefore they had come prepared with spiked batons, and they must have made sure that they vastly outnumbered the Indians. That’s why the Chinese were also able to take ten of our jawans and officers as prisoners.
If these conjectures are true, then I wonder if the Chinese suffered any casualties at all. That means the so-called agreement in high level meeting, at the lt. Gen. level, was a betrayal. Can this be taken to the international court of justice?
If there were no deaths on chinese side wouldn’t global times etc refute the claims of 43 PLA killed? Till now they have accepted that they had casualities and refused to share the count. Given their propaganda mindset, had the chinese not died, there would already be articles on global times refuting Indian claims.
Political parties in India are treating the Defence services like step children.This will continue till the DF form unions or use their voting rights to teach the politicians
ওটা নিহত না লিখে শহীদ লিখতে পারতেন ?
…….বীরদের সম্মান জানান ?
There is a video of a Chinese soldier and an armoured vehicle captured by Indian soldiers. Maybe prisoners were exchanged.
Released by China!!!…does that mean Indian soldiers entered China territory or soldiers captured by China in Indian territory?
Modern warfare is a serious matter. It is not a question of who is the vanquished. Neither China nor India can afford any war particularly at this juncture when the world is reeling under the impact of covid. War will result in incalculable loss of human lives. China has been bullish not only with India but with other countries too. It is time China behaves responsibly, and realise it can’t live in isolation. Killing 20 Indian soldiers has no excuse whatsoever. At worst they could have been held captive and released later as in the case of other 10 soldiers. It must stop its misadventurism. Period of colonialism is long past and its recent trend in this direction must cease.
It is obvious Chinese like in earlier instances made long term preparation before coming to this situation we should never trust them we have not built infrastructure to match their mobility It is high time that all the border states along the LAC should have required infrastructure in place if need arises people should contribute for this infrastructure and it should be no 1 priority for the country congress ignored war preparedness with China it is very big blunder
If this news is true, your newspaper have spies inside Indian Army, who gives these information which is not the official statement of Indian Army. How much do you pay for them? What kind of official secrets of Indian Army have you bagged up? Do you have strategic secrets of our Army?
Indian lies being exposed every day.
The fact is that Indian soldiers are killed brutally and they couldn’t do anything.
You see not everyone just ‘gifts’ land to the chinese. Forget that you’ve become a chinese vassal state, they even take your girls to put them to ‘work’ in china. And your government or military doest even confront. Paki workers are beaten up every day by their Chinese bosses, still no FIR! And the Uighur muslims!! The west has to protect them. So spare us this babble and ask you dim wit PM to grow a spine and stand in your support!
No difference with 1962 scenerio.China will always take agressive action & then show mercy like big brother.Why India is so late in infrastructure developement?Why always China resists our border road projects &why India does not resists Chinas infrastructure development on LAC.Cleary India is always on receiving side&this will happen as long as India lags.
The defense experts commenting on the happening on the LAC need to be more sensitive.
Is there a question about the size and might on the Chinese ?
Can anyone disagree that while Chinese were building over all capacities, a great number of Indian Politicians and Babus both in and out of Uniform were busy robbing the country and feathering their nest, in a well developed and institutionalized eco-system with the rest as silent spectators.
Anyway that is history whether the defense experts want to accept it or not.
Just to run down Modi Government, it would be better if insinuations, no matter how discreet, should be avoided, unless the experts think that we can go to war with China and beat the hell out of them.
Now we come to know the truth of surgical strike and Balakote killings. All lies were said in garb of sensitivity of national interests.Indian army can do any damn thing for national interest .
You see not everyone just ‘gifts’ land to the chinese. Forget that you’ve become a chinese vassal state, they even take your girls to put them to ‘work’ in china. And your government or military doest even confront. Paki workers are beaten up every day by their Chinese bosses, still no FIR! And the Uighur muslims!! The west has to protect them. So spare us this babble and ask you dim wit PM to grow a spine and stand in your support!
Why there were no Chinese captives , Our front line troop are seriously lagging in infrastructure and facilities along the LAC . We should also be having the same capabilities along lac as the Chinese . This is humiliating and seems like chinese are treating us like kids
Print ,I thought you were a reliable source of information but you proved me wrong . Indian side have constantly said our no personnel is missing and same said by China today that they haven’t detained any Indian soldier. I don’t know from where you get these news and a salute to your inappropriate sources who fabricate everything by themselves. And it’s better to do some homework before writing an article because a lot of people read it and make a point of view. And for your betterment review your sources, because tomorrow they will say China have detained you also.
We are kids in front of Chinese , otherwise they can buy whole INDIA .
China has already bought Pakistan. You don’t even have rights in your own country. Have you forgotten the humiliation paki army had at the hands of Iranian border guards? Captured and released after weeks!
Are you saying that we need to capture some soldiers just to show our might? India was building a road for ease and to increase infrastructure until China intervened inappropriately. Capturing some soldiers does not mean anything.
because the fight broke out on chinese side of LAC as indians went there to raze down a tent. thus it was easier for them to capture compared to indians who were already outnumbered.
Finally something make sense