The Congress on Sunday demanded an official statement on the Galwan Valley clash from the Centre after purported visuals of the skirmish between Indian and Chinese troops in June 2020 emerged on social media.
On June 15, 2020, the military troops of India and China had entered into a brawl along the western sector of the Line of Actual Control. The clashes had killed 20 Indian soldiers, while Beijing said in February 2021 that four of its soldiers had died.
A day after the incident, New Delhi had blamed the confrontation on Beijing’s attempt to unilaterally change the status quo in the area.
The purported videos shared on social media on Saturday claimed that several Indian military personnel, who had crossed into Chinese territory, sustained injuries in the clash and were taken into custody by the People’s Liberation Army. Some videos also showed unconscious soldiers lying on the ground. Scroll has not verified the authenticity of the videos.
The Congress on Sunday urged the Centre to issue an official statement on India’s version of the Galwan Valley clash.
“These are extremely disturbing visuals - released by China and its minions,” Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate wrote in a tweet. “This is from China’s point of view, which is why we MUST put out OUR version too. An official account of what happened is long overdue.”
Shrinate also speculated that sharing the visuals on social media might be China’s attempt at waging an information war.
In August 2021, China had released similar videos of the clash between its troops and Indian soldiers in Galwan Valley. One of the videos showed Chinese troops throwing stones at Indian soldiers. Chinese troops were also seen wading through knee-deep water. At one point in the video, they were adrift in the rapid waters of Galwan river.
At an all-party meeting held days after the clash, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had claimed that Chinese troops did not enter India’s territory and no Indian military posts had been taken over in the face off.
Notably, the clashes in Galwan were first such incident in the Ladakh valley since the Indo-China war of 1962. The clash has sparked off a tensed standoff between the two countries, with both sides bolstering forces along their sides of the border.
Cross-border tensions had escalated once again on December 9, after Indian and Chinese troops clashed in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh. New Delhi said that the clash took place after Chinese soldiers attempted to change the status quo at the Line of Actual Control.
On April 27, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu that violation of existing agreements between the two countries has eroded the entire basis of bilateral ties. The statement was made when the Chinese defence minister was on his first visit to New Delhi since the militaries of the two nations clashed in Galwan Valley.
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