A border personnel meeting (BPM) between Indian and Chinese troops is scheduled to take place at Nathu la in the eastern sector on Wednesday during which measures to ensure peace and tranquillity at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are expected to be discussed.
Sources said a BPM is scheduled on May 15 every year after which cultural celebrations are held and witnessed by the two sides.
The Indian troops could be represented by a brigadier while the Chinese PLA is expected to be represented by a “senior colonel”. Troops from the two armies had a face-off recently in eastern Ladakh after a Chinese incursion.
But nevertheless, military preparedness remains a worry. Even as China increases its footprints in the Indian Ocean, defence minister A.K. Antony admitted at the naval commanders’ conference on Tuesday that the Indian Navy has “some operational constraints regarding conventional submarines, ship-borne helicopters and mine counter-measure vessels”. Sources said the operational constraints regarding conventional submarines were an outcome of a situation in which there was a delay in building six French-origin Scorpene submarines as well as a delay in starting the process for acquisition of six more submarines with air independent propulsion technology.
But on a brighter note, the naval commanders’ conference that began on Tuesday was unique as it was held through video-conferencing for the first time ever linking the naval headquarters in Delhi with the eastern naval command headquarters at Visakhapatnam, western naval headquarters in Mumbai and the southern naval headquarters in Kochi.
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