Army asked to be on high alert on China border this winter

New Delhi, Oct 6: The Indian Army has been ordered to remain on high alert across the nearly 4000 km long Indo-China border this winter. The full operational alert has been extended till further orders, a highly placed source in the Army said, amid reports of Chinese troops presence near the Doklam plateau in the Chumbi Valley. The presence of the People’s Liberation Army had thinned in the area after the disengagement process had started on August 28 but some 500 Chinese troops have stayed back closer to the standoff site, the source said. On Thursday, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa had also spoken about the presence of the Chinese troops in Chumbi Valley in his annual press conference here. The operational alert was declared in August this year as Indian and Chinese troops were on an eyeball-to- eyeball deployment for over two and half months in the Doklam plateau in the India, China and Bhutan trijunction. The 73-day standoff was resolved after diplomatic intervention by both the countries. Full Operational Alert of Indian army means that there will be no thinning of troops even in the farthest and most inhospitable post along the Indo-China border. Besides, higher number of troops will be acclimatized for high altitude warfare so that the soldiers guarding posts changed periodically to maintain high level of alertness. In addition to the above, arms and armaments will be at the state of readiness and positioning of more troops on vulnerable points along with the Indo-China border. UNI