Such serious incidents cannot just be handled at the local, on-the-spot military level. We have as many as four bilateral agreements with China on maintaining peace and tranquillity at the India-China border. If we give the country’s security forces the discretion to use firearms in an angry encounter, a bloodbath much worse than that which took place at Galwan could ensue. China contests this alignment at some locations but we do not know how China perceives LAC in its entire length. The Indian government’s response has to be a careful mix of political, diplomatic, economic and military measures.

Source: Hindustan Times June 23, 2020 14:25 UTC