TIL Desk/National/Gangtok/New Delhi/ Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat today visited formation headquarters of the force in North Sikkim and was briefed by top commanders about the entire security situation in the wake of the face-off between Indian troops and Chinese military over a disputed area.
Rawat, on a two-day visit, was apprised about the tense situation on the border at the Army’s 17 Mountain Division even as China, hardening its position on the stand-off, warned that the Indian Army should learn “historical lessons”, in an oblique reference to the 1962 war.
The Army Chief also visited areas under the 17 Mountain Division, tasked to guard the Sino-India border in the Sikkim sector, and took stock of various operational aspects. “Gen Rawat was briefed about the operational matters,” an official source said.
The genesis of the flashpoint was China’s attempts to build a road at strategically key area of Donglong, the linking of which to the Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction could give China a major military advantage over India.
The Indian Army had blocked construction of the road by China in Donglong, a disputed territory between China and Bhutan. Of the 3,488-km-long India-China border from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, a 220-km section falls in Sikkim.
