Guterres ‘concerned’ about deaths along LAC in Ladakh, urges restrain

 ARUL LOUIS 

United Nations: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is concerned about the clashes between Indian and Chines troops along the Line of Actual Control in Ladah and asked the two nations to exercise restraint, a spokesperson said Tuesday.

Guterres’s Associate Spokesperson Eri Kaneko said: “We are concerned about reports of violence and deaths along the Line of Actual Control between India and China.”

She added: “We urge both sides to exercise maximum restraint. We take positive note of reports that the two countries are engaged in deescalating the situation.”

The clashes on Monday, during which no firearms were reportedly not used, was probably the worst confrontation since the 1962 war between the neighbours.

Colonel B. Santosh Babu of the 16 Bihar Regiment and two other Indian Army personnel were killed in the clash along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh on Monday night. However, the Indian Army later disclosed that 20 personnel had been killed.

Unlike India, China has not officially said if there it had suffered casualties.

But Hu Xijn, editor of the Global Times, tweeted that there were Chinese casualties but the government did not want to publish the numbers because they do not “want people of the two countries to compare the casualties number so to avoid stoking public mood. This is goodwill from Beijing.”

IANS

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)