Pangong Tso Lake Heats Up - The New Lac Flash Point

The Army is now treating it as a semi-permanent face-off that may stretch for weeks if not months

- Shiv Aroor

The Indian Army is dealing with the flashpoint at Ladakh’s Pangong Tso as a ‘semi-permanent face-off’ that it expects to stretch out for weeks, if not months. In first details shared with India Today TV of how the Army leadership is viewing the brewing situation on the shores of the massive lake, top Army officers told India Today TV that the Indian Army had mobilized more than adequately for any eventuality in a sector where the Chinese Army has built up more visibly, and in greater numbers, than any other.

Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane, who spent two days in Ladakh this week, briefed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the situation along the 832 kilometer frontier of eastern Ladakh with Chinese forces. While in Ladakh, he met with troops from units deployed in the Pangong area, including men involved in a violent clash with Chinese soldiers on the night of May 5, an incident seen as the starting point of the current standoff that has now run for 51 days and counting.