Sources said the government had asked the Army to adopt a
different tactical approach in guarding the border - the LAC - with China.
After an incident
of the violent face-off with China in Eastern Ladakh, the Indian Army has
changed its rules of engagement on the Line
of Actual Control (LAC) which would allow field commanders to order troops
to use firearms under "extraordinary" circumstances.
The sources said the armed forces have been given full freedom to deal with any act of aggression by China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de-facto border between the two countries. At the all-party meeting on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said the armed forces had been given a free hand to take all necessary steps.
In another
development, sources said the defence ministry has extended the financial
powers given to three vice service chiefs to purchase ammunition and weapons up
to Rs 500 crore per acquisition.
Defence Minister Rajnath
Singh on Sunday asked India’s top military brass to be “fully prepared” to
take any unprecedented action at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India
and China.
The sources said
Rajnath Singh told the top military brass to maintain a strict vigil on Chinese
activities around land border, airspace and in strategic sea lanes, and asked
them to adopt a "tough" approach in dealing with any misadventure by
Chinese forces.
The Indian Air
Force (IAF) has already moved a sizeable number of its frontline Sukhoi 30 MKI,
Jaguar, Mirage 2000 aircraft and Apache attack helicopters to several key air
bases including Leh and Srinagar in the last five days. Air Chief Marshal
Bhadauria on Saturday said the IAF is "well prepared" and
"suitably deployed" to counter any security challenge along the border
with China and even hinted that his force has flown combat air patrols in the
Ladakh region as part of heightened preparedness.
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