ISLAMABAD: The Indian army has changed rules of engagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, empowering field commanders to sanction use of firearms under ''extraordinary'' circumstances.
The changes to the decades-old rules come less than a week after a clash between Chinese and Indian troops in Ladakh on the LAC in which more than 20 Indian soldiers, including a colonel, were killed by the Chinese. More than 100 Indian soldiers were injured, while some were arrested by the Chinese.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier also said the Indian army has been given full freedom to deal with the on-ground situation. Under previous rules of engagement, agreements signed in 1996 and 2005, neither side opens fire on the other. The two countries had also agreed not to use blasting explosives or firearms within two kilometres of either side of the LAC. Indian troops were attacked with iron rods, nail-studded clubs and rocks wrapped in barbed wire in the fight near Patrol Point 14 -- a vantage point on the LAC -- when they intruded into Chinese area. No causality on Chinese side had been reported. The deadly clashes were the worst in 45 years. In 1975, four Assam Rifles soldiers were killed by Chinese in Tulunug La pass in Arunachal Pradesh while on a routine patrol.
Reacting to the Indian army's new rules for using firearms, Hu Xijin, Editor-in-Chief of the Chinese government's mouthpiece Global Times, tweeted, "If true, this is a serious violation of agreement, & the Indian side will pay a heavy price for any such action."
The Ladakh violence has also led to a political storm with Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi questioning the government over possible intelligence failures in the build-up to the clash. Ahead of Friday's all-party meeting, Sonia Gandhi asked: "Did military intelligence not alert the government about the intrusion and build-up of massive forces along the LAC...?"
Sonia Gandhi, who called the prime minister "Surrender Modi", has since pointed to satellite images to claim that China had "captured Indian territory near Pangong Lake".
South actor-politician Kamal Haasan weighed in on the debate, asking the government to explain how the lives of Indian soldiers were being safeguarded.
A day after the clash, Modi said, "The country will be proud to know that our soldiers died fighting the Chinese" and that "valour and courage is our country's character".
"We never provoke anyone but we will not compromise with integrity and sovereignty. Whenever time has come, we have proved our strength and capabilities in protecting our integrity and sovereignty," he said. India has blamed the clashes on "an attempt by the Chinese side to unilaterally change the status quo there", rebutting China's claims that Indian soldiers crossed the border.
