Army orders riot gear for soldiers

nNEW DELHI: The Indian Army has ordered body protective suits and batons for troops deployed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, the focus of current tensions with China, to protect them from further assaults by Chinese troops, two officers familiar with the development said on Friday.

The Chinese troops have been using stones, rods and nail-studded clubs to inflict serious injuries during border brawls. Twenty Indian soldiers, including a colonel, were killed in a seven-hour brawl in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley on Monday night.

The order for the suits – essentially lightweight riot gear –was placed with a Mumbai-based firm last month after scores of Indian soldiers, including a colonel, were injured in a separate clash with Chinese troops on the northern bank of Ladakh’s Pangong Lake on the night of May 5-6, said one of the two cited above.

Indian and Chinese soldiers have been caught in a tense confrontation along the disputed border since rival patrols clashed near Pangong Lake last month.

The soldiers along the LAC will get 500 sets of protective suits soon as a first instalment, said a second officer. The army has ordered around 2,000 sets of protective suits and batons, he said.

Tensions have escalated after the clash between Indian and Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley on June 15.

Two retired senior commanders that Hindustan Times spoke to said it was inappropriate to supply riot gear to soldiers as their role was not the same as policemen.

The June 15 clash also left 76 Indian soldiers injured, including 18 seriously, officials said. All of them are now stable.

Indian Army officers said 43 Chinese were killed or seriously injured, citing radio intercepts and other intelligence.