Delhi/Kolkata: It is not just three Indian soldiers who got killed in the violent scuffle with Chinese troops, but at least 20, and hundreds got injured too. Several soldiers were captured by Chinese troops, who were later handed over to Indian Army after the face-off between Indian and Chinese armed forces at Galwan Valley in Ladakh.
According to a report in The Telegraph, UK, at least thirteen Indian soldiers have been killed in the face-off.
At around 2 pm on Tuesday, Indian Army organised a press conference to inform that at least three Indian soldiers had been killed in a violent stand-off with Chinese troops at Galwan Valley in Ladakh on Monday night. The three martyrs include a Colonel and two soldiers.
While Indian army officials have mentioned the killing of three Indian soldiers, they are yet to say anything about soldiers that went missing. This report of missing Indian soldiers has not only been reported in The Telegraph, who reported based on sources, but has also been tweeted by some of the army veterans and journalists who cover Foreign Affairs.
Aarti Tikku Tweeted, “BREAKING @ians_india: Some Indian Army officers & soldiers are MISSING; they were probably held captive by Chinese Army during the violent face-off at LAC in Galwan Valley of Ladakh, according to sources. PLA is threatening to throw them off a hill to inflict massive casualties (Sic).“
While a former Colonel and writer, Ajai Shukla Tweeted, “Now hearing that the casualty count on the Indian side is significantly higher than what the initial reports stated. Also, many Indian soldiers captured and then released, an Indian major still held by the
Chinese.”
However, Chinese army officials did not accept that there were casualties on their side. But the editor of Global Times tweeted about soldiers getting killed on the Chinese side. However, he didn’t mention any number.
Hu Xijin tweeted, “Based on what I know, Chinese side also suffered casualties in the Galwan Valley physical clash. I want to tell the Indian side, don’t be arrogant and misread China’s restraint as being weak. China doesn’t want to have a clash with India, but we don’t fear it.”
Among the three soldiers killed during the fight, one is from Sahibganj district of Jharkhand. Twenty-eight-year-old Kundan Kumar Ojha, who was an army jawan, had become a father only a month back. He had joined the Army in 2010 and was posted in Ladakh.
The other soldier who got killed is Colonel B Santosh Babu, he hailed from Suryapet district in Telangana. Colonel Babu was the only son of his parents.
Notably, there had been tension on Ladakh’s Indo-China border since fortnight and it was being claimed by independent media that Chinese troops had entered 60 kilometres into the Indian territory. However, higher army officials, as well as defence ministry, had been denying it. Later, they only mentioned that both Indian and Chinese counterparts had a meeting and now de-escalation had begun, soon the situation was going to be normal and then, this happened.
According to Colonel Ashok, a veteran, he tweeted that soldiers were sent to talk to Chinese troops unarmed, by the senior officials on the direction of governments, which led to this clash.
