Lt Governor of Ladakh Brigadier (Retd) B D Mishra Monday said not an inch of Indian territory in Ladakh has been occupied by China, weeks after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, during a tour of the Union Territory, said “Chinese army entered our land”

“I will not comment on what Rahul Gandhi says, but I will say what I have seen with my own eyes, and the facts on the ground say that not a single inch of land has been occupied (by China). We are capable of giving a befitting reply,” Brig B D Mishra said while talking to media persons at the North Tech Symposium at IIT Jammu near Nagrota.

At the symposium, Northern Army Commander Lt General Upendra Dwivedi said the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh was “normal and very fine”.

“As an army commander, the area I am guarding is our area, and I will not allow anyone to come on the Indian soil,” he said when asked about Gandhi’s recent statement.

#WATCH | Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in Kargil, Ladakh says, “…Ladakh is a strategic location…One thing is very clear China has taken away India’s land…It is sad that the PM in the opposition meeting said that not even an inch of Ladakh has been taken by China. This is a… pic.twitter.com/4oKeDZZAEv

— ANI (@ANI) August 25, 2023

The Northern Army Commander said the troops in the Northern Command are “always operationally prepared” and ready to take on challenges on the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan, LAC with China and the counter-terrorist operations in the hinterland.

“Nearly 200 terrorists are waiting across the LoC to infiltrate and those attempting to infiltrate on this side are being eliminated by our alert troops on the border itself,” the Northern Army Commander said.

Pointing out that Rashtriya Rifles have been doing a commendable job in counter-terrorist operations, he said this was why people say that normalcy is in the offing. When asked about the spurt in terror activities in the Rajouri and Poonch districts on the South of Pir Panjal, he said though Pakistan is faced with economic and other problems, it tries to disturb peace wherever it finds it on this side of the border.

“And in desperation, when they fail to find local militants, they send foreigners,” he added.

The Northern Army commander said while the Army remained fully prepared at the LoC and LAC, Rashtriya Rifles were doing “very good” work in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations in the hinterland.

“During the past nine months, we have killed 46 terrorists, and it has been for the first time that the number of foreigners among them has been four times that of locals. If we have killed nine local terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, the remaining 37 are foreigners,” he said, adding that 29 have been killed in Rajouri and Poonch districts falling on the south of Pir Panjal.

In August, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was on a tour of Ladakh, took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said the PM’s claim that not an inch of land has been lost in the Union Territory “is not true”.

“Here people are saying that the Chinese army has entered our land. They say that now they cannot go to the place which was earlier used for grazing. They are clearly saying… The Prime Minister said not an inch of land has been lost, but that is not true. Ask anyone in Ladakh, they will tell you this,” the Congress MP had said.