Chief of Army Staff Manoj Mukund Naravane said on Saturday that the situation on India’s borders with China was “under control”, ANI reported. He added that a series of meetings between military heads of both sides had helped in defusing any tension.

“I would like to assure everyone that entire situation along our borders with China is under control,” Naravane told reporters. “We’re having a series of talks which started with corps commander level and they have been followed up with meetings at local levels between commanders of equivalent ranks.” The Army chief was speaking on the sidelines of the Indian Military Academy’s Passing Out Parade in Dehradun, PTI reported.

Advertisement

He said due to these meetings, there had been a “lot of disengagement” between troops of the two sides, and the Indian Army remained hopeful that through dialogue, all differences will be resolved.

Tensions between India and China escalated after soldiers from the two nations engaged in a standoff at the north Sikkim and eastern Ladakh borders over the past month. There were instances of physical fighting, in which some soldiers from both sides were injured. On June 8, China said that its military had reached a consensus with its Indian counterpart not to allow differences to escalate into disputes.

Naravane also said that in the last 10 to 15 days, 15 “terrorists” were killed in Jammu and Kashmir, Hindustan Times reported. “All of this has been because of very close cooperation and coordination between all security forces operating in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said. “Most of the operations have been based on information provided by the locals themselves which goes to show that they are also absolutely fed up with militancy and terrorism...”

Early on Saturday, Indian security forces killed two suspected militants in Nipora area of Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, in the latest in a series of engagements over the past month.