Rajnath, Naravane to visit Ladakh for security review

nNEWDELHI: Defence minister Rajnath Singh will visit Ladakh for a security review on Friday at a time when military tensions in the sensitive region are running high and the Indian and Chinese armies are in talks for disengagement of troops and de-escalation of the ongoing border dispute, aseniorofficialsaid on Wednesday.

Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane will accompany the minister on his one day visit, he said. This will be Naravane’s third visit to the Ladakh sector after border tensions erupted in early May.

India has beefed up its high-altitude deployments in Ladakh in response to fortified Chinese military presence.

“Theminister’svisittoladakh shows that the developments there are being taken seriously by the government,” said Lieutenant General DS Hooda (retd), a former Northern Army commander.

During a marathon meeting between senior military commanders at Chushul in Ladakh on Tuesday, the two armies stressed on the need for an “expeditious, phased and step-wise de-escalation” of the border conflict, people familiar with matter said Wednesday. The Indian forces have planned and prepared for a long haul in the sector if talks do not yield any significant breakthrough, said one of the persons quoted above.