Defenceinfo Bureau Report
Army Chief General VK Singh has stated that there are around 4,000 Chinese, including the troops of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK). “There are certain construction working teams, a large number is available. Around 3,000 to 4,000 of these people are present including certain people for security purposes. There are certain engineers troops. Now (like) our own engineers are combat engineers. So, in some way they are part of the PLA,” he told reporters in New Delhi. Earlier, the Air Chief, Marshal N A K Browne, had stated that increasing presence of China in POK warrants India’s “attention”. New Delhi has already conveyed its concerns to China over the presence of troops in POK and its activities in that region. When queried about the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, Gen Singh said the terrorist infrastructure across the line of control (LoC) was intact and a large number of terrorists are trying to infiltrate. “The terror infrastructure (across the LoC) is intact. A concentration of large number of terrorists on the other side exists and they are trying to infiltrate. We are making sure that their efforts fail,” the Army chief said.
Chinese presence so close to the line of control as also the joint effort being made by Pakistan and China to colonise the area on which India has claimed a stake is a matter of concern. The matter needs to be taken up diplomatically at the international level on the twin grounds of usurping sovereignty and human rights violation of the populace.
