Names of 20 soldiers martyred in Galwan Valley clash inscribed on National War Memorial

New Delhi, Jan 20: The names of 20 Indian Army personnel, who martyred while braving the Chinese troops in Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh in June last year, were inscribed on the National War Memorial ahead of the Republic Day.

 

 

It should be noted that the names of soldiers who died in operations were being written once a year earlier but now the frequency of adding new names would be increased. The Indian Army has already built a memorial for the ‘Gallants of Galwan’ at Post 120 in eastern Ladakh. Some of these soldiers are also likely to be honored with gallantry awards on Republic Day.

 

The memorial mentioned their heroics under operation ‘Snow Leopard’ and the way they evicted the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops from the area while inflicting “heavy casualties” on them.

 

During a visit to Lukung forward post in eastern Ladakh on July 17 last year, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had personally conveyed his appreciation and compliments to the troops from the Bihar regiment for displaying exemplary grit and courage in fighting the Chinese troops.

 

The Galwan valley clash took place on June 15 last year when the Indian Army valiantly fought against Chinese troops who used stones, nail-studded sticks, iron rods, and clubs in carrying out brutal attacks on Indian soldiers This comes after they protested the erection of a surveillance post by China around patrolling point 14 in Galwan Valley. This brutal clash led to the hardening of at stance by India which has now allowed to use of weapons during patrolling after the use of unorthodox weapons by Chinese troops.

 

Besides, Col B Santosh Babu, the Commanding Officer of the 16 Bihar regiment, was among the Indian soldiers who played a vital role as he laid down their lives in the fierce hand-to-hand combat on June 15. It was an incident that marked one of the most serious military conflicts between the two sides in decades.

 

India lost 20 troops in the fiercest clash between the two sides in recent times while the Chinese also suffered significant casualties. On the other hand, China is yet to disclose the number of its soldiers killed and injured in the clash though it officially admitted to having suffered casualties.

 

The violent clash had escalated the border row in eastern Ladakh and resulted in a large deployment of troops and heavy weaponry by both the armies at the friction points. India and China are locked in a bitter military standoff in eastern Ladakh for over eight months.

 

Nearly 50,000 troops of the Indian Army are currently deployed in a high state of combat readiness in the mountainous region in sub-zero temperatures as multiple rounds of talks between the two sides have not yielded concrete outcome to resolve the standoff. China has also deployed an equal number of troops, according to officials.

 

Last month, India and China had held another round of diplomatic talks under the framework of Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on India-China border affairs.

 

The eighth and last round of military talks between the two sides had taken place on November 6 last year during which both sides broadly discussed disengagement of troops from specific friction points.

 

India has all along been maintaining that the onus is on China to carry forward the process of disengagement and de-escalation at the friction points in the mountainous region.