'Indian Troops Fully Geared To Fight A Full-Fledged War In Eastern Ladakh,'Army Responds To Global Times' Report

India-China Tensions: Amid escalating tensions between the two countries, Army said that the troops are ready to face any situation, even a full fledged war.

Indian army soldiers drive vehicles along mountainous roads as they take part in a military exercise at Thikse in Leh district of the union territory of Ladakh on July 4, 2020. (Photo by Mohd Arhaan ARCHER / AFP) / ALTERNATE CROP

New Delhi: Dismissing the Chinese official media Global Times’ premature assumption about Indian forces not being geared adequately, the Indian Army on Wednesday said that India is fully prepared to fight a full-fledged war even in winters in eastern Ladakh. The Army said if China created conditions for war, they will face a’ better trained, better prepared, fully rested and psychologically hardened Indian troops’. The Army said that Indian soldiers are physically and psychologically battle-hardened whereas Chinese troops in comparison to Indian forces are not used to hardships or prolonged deployment as most of them come from urban areas. A spokesperson of Army’s Northern Command said that the report in Global Times can be attributed to ignorance of China. He said Indian Army is fully prepared and more than capable of fighting a full-fledged war even in winters in eastern Ladakh, While talks are in progress to resolve the border issues with China in eastern Ladakh, at the military level it is well prepared for the prolonged stand-off, he said. Global Times report had claimed that India's operational logistics is not geared up adequately and it will not be able to fight through winters effectively. He said altitudes in Ladakh range from high to super-high altitude and there is a lot of snowfall up to 40 feet after November. Coupled with this, the temperature dipping down to minus 30 to 40 degree Celsius is a usual phenomenon. Wind chill factor makes matters even worse for the troops. The roads also get closed due to the snow. But despite all this, the most encouraging part for India is that the Indian soldiers have a huge experience of winter warfare and are psychologically tuned to operate at short notice, the spokesperson said. It is important to understand that the Army has the experience of Siachen, the highest battleground in the world, where conditions are much more demanding than the frontiers with China, the spokesperson said. On Tuesday, defence minister Rajnath Singh said Union in the Parliament said that the violent conduct of Chinese troops is a violation of all past agreements. At the same time he assured that Indian troops have done counter deployments in the area to safeguard the borders..