Indian Army chief reviews major combat exercise in eastern Ladakh

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Army chief General Manoj Pande on Saturday reviewed a major combat exercise in eastern Ladakh while taking stock of the operational preparedness along the frontier, even as Indian and Chinese troops disengage from the stand-off at Patrolling Point-15 in the larger Gogra-Hot Springs area.

On a two-day trip to the operational areas under the crucial Leh-based 14 Corps, Gen Pande visited `forward areas’ along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on Saturday. He was briefed on the overall security situation as well as the disengagement process at PP-15 by top commanders, including Northern Command chief Lt-General Upendra Dwivedi and 14 Corps commander Lt-General Anindya Sengupta.

The significant development was the massive ‘Parvat Prahar’ exercise, which included infantry soldiers, T-90S and T-72 tanks, mechanized infantry, K-9 Vajra, Bofors and M-777 howitzers, helicopters and aircraft, taking place in the high-altitude region.

The exercise involved elements of the Mathura-based 1 Strike Corps, which has around 70,000 soldiers and heavy weaponry, and has been “rebalanced” to the LAC as the primary front from its earlier role on the western front with Pakistan. The 17 Mountain Strike Corps, with its headquarters at Panagarh in West Bengal, in turn, is focussed on eastern theatre with China, including the Chumbi Valley opposite Sikkim, as reported by TOI earlier.

“The Parvat Prahar exercise has been underway for several days in the `depth areas’ of eastern Ladakh, as per bilateral protocols and norms, much before the disengagement kicked off at PP-15 on Thursday morning,” a senior officer said.

The phased and coordinated pullback of the rival troops at PP-15 near the Kugrang Nallah is slated to be completed on Monday. The overall de-escalation in the continuing over 28-month-long military confrontation with China in the high-altitude region, however, is still nowhere in sight.

“The ongoing disengagement at PP-15 is being closely monitored by both the armies. Apart from the troop pullback, the process involves dismantling of temporary structures and other allied infrastructure created in the area by the two sides, along with mutual verification,” an officer said.

While troop disengagement has taken place at PP-14 (Galwan Valley), PP-17A (Gogra) and the Pangong Tso-Kailash Range region, and is now being followed by PP-15, the much bigger stand-off at the strategically-located Depsang Bulge area remains a major operational problem. Similarly, the `friction’ at the Charding Ninglung Nallah (CNN) track junction at Demchok is also yet to be defused.

On Sunday, Gen Pande is slated to go to the Siachen Glacier-Saltoro Ridge region, where Indian and Pakistani troops face each other along the 110-km actual ground position line. (The Times of India)