Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said on Friday that there was no security or infiltration threat by Chinese troops in Ladakh.
The minister who visited the Sino-Indian border in Jammu and Kashmir’s hilly region last week assured the nation that he found or heard of no such emergency.
“I’ve been asked this question by media persons after my visit to Pangong Lake about the movement of Chinese there. I found there is no infiltration,” he told reporters at Octroi post, a forward post along the International Border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ranbir Singh Pura area. Mr Shinde who arrived in winter capital Jammu earlier on Friday on a 3-day visit of Jammu and Kashmir added, “There is no problem from China (in Ladakh sector) till now.”
Replying a question pertaining to the sensational issue of a 550-metre-long tunnel connecting Pakistan and India uncovered at Chechwal in Samba sector recently, he said it would be taken up with Islamabad at the highest level. “Yes, certainly it will be taken up at the highest level,” he said. The home minister did not deny the incidence of infiltration from across the LoC but said such designs of the enemy are foiled by alert Indian security forces. “It is true that sometimes infiltrations do take place but our jawans and officers are doing a commendable job (in foiling these) and I appreciate them.”
The home minister said that issue had already been taken up with his Pakistani counterpart on the sidelines of recently held Saarc meeting at Maldives that Islamabad too was serious.
A meticulous on-the-spot assessment of the overall security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and to hold a series of meetings with local officials for a threadbare discussion on key issues apart from visiting susceptible areas along the Line of Control and International Border (IB) with Pakistan figure notably in Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s itinerary during his 3-day visit of the state.