Senior Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused the centre of "insulting the sacrifice" of soldiers and "letting go of our territory", soon after Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh informed Parliament about a breakthrough in the India-China military and diplomatic talks over the standoff in Ladakh. The leader, who has been attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government over the issue, implied in a tweet that lasting peace cannot be brought to the region until "status quo ante" - the restoration of the Chinese position at the Line of Actual Control (the de-facto border) before the confrontation began in May last year - is achieved.
"No status quo ante = No peace and tranquillity. Why is Government of India (GOI) insulting the sacrifice of our jawans and letting go of our territory?" he wrote on Twitter.
Mr Singh today read out a statement in the Rajya Sabha, informing that India and China, after several rounds of diplomat and military-level talks over the standoff, have agreed to disengage in the north and south banks of the Pangong lake in Ladakh. He also informed the upper house that the country hasn't "conceded" anything.
"Our sustained talks with China have led to agreement on disengagement on the north and south banks of Pangong Lake. After this agreement, India and China will remove forward deployments in a phased, coordinated manner," he said, adding, "I want to assure this House that in these talks we have not conceded anything".
Mr Singh also said that the agreement will "substantially restore" the situation that existed prior to the standoff, which erupted on May 5 last year, adding that the two sides have agreed that they should achieve complete disengagement at the "earliest" and abide fully by the bilateral agreements and protocols, news agency PTI reported.
Mr Gandhi, a fervent critic of PM Modi, has been accusing the central government of ignoring the Chinese transgressions in Ladakh. He had called PM Modi a "coward" , questioning his "silence" over the issue. In October last year, he said the Congress would have evicted China in just 15 minutes if it were in power.
20 Indian soldiers had died in the line of duty in a clash with the Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh's Galwan valley on June 15, last year. An unspecified number of Chinese troops had also been killed.
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