General Manoj Pande began his three-day tour of the Ladakh region on Thursday, his first travel outside Delhi since taking over as Army Chief. He will examine the overall security posture along the borders with China and Pakistan.
The Army Chief landed in Ladakh on Thursday and was briefed by Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi and ‘Fire and Fury’ Corps Commander Lt Gen A Sengupta on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.
On the first day of his visit, Gen Pande evaluated the Army’s equipment in the Ladakh area, including unmanned aerial vehicles as well as other “Made in India” defence equipment, according to Army officials.
As a Major General, the Army Chief led the 8 Mountain Division, which was in charge of operations along the Pakistan border in the region.
Gen Pande’s own 117 Engineers Regiment is also on the ground in the Eastern Ladakh region.
Gen Pande has made it plain from the start that the force will not tolerate any loss of land in the region where Chinese and Indian soldiers have been locked in a military stalemate for the past two years.
In an exclusive interview with ANI on his first day in office, he stated that the situation at the LAC is normal at the present since our adversary’s unilateral and aggressive measures to change the status quo by force have been effectively dealt with.