Downplaying reports of India losing territory to China in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, Defence Minister A K Antony on Wednesday said there was 'no change' in the Line of Actual Control.
Antony said the issue was raised at a meeting he had with Jammu and Kashmir government officials and Army officers in Jammu on Tuesday, where the Army Corps Commander for Ladakh had categorically reported that there was not much change in the situation along the LAC.
"In the meeting, this subject was also raised. In the meeting, the Corps Commander (of Ladakh) reported that as far as they are concerned, there is no change in the Line of Control. There is not much change in the situation," he told reporters.
However, he said there were troop movements 'here and there' because of the differing perceptions (of the LAC).
"Because of differing perceptions, our people are going there, their people are coming here. Generally there is no change in the atmosphere and no change in the LAC. This was explained by the Army commander. I told them to further study this in detail," he said.
An official report had recently stated that the area along the LAC with China had 'shrunk' over a period of time and India had lost 'substantial' amount of land in the last two decades.
He also voiced serious concern over the rise in infiltration from Pakistan.
"In 2009, violence (in Jammu and Kashmir) came down, compared to 2008. At the same time, compared to 2008, attempts to infiltrate have gone up. It is a matter of serious concern to us," Antony said.
Giving his assessment of the situation in the border state, Antony said, "Inimical forces across the border are jittery" as they saw normalcy returning to Jammu and Kashmir.
"If the situation continues like this, J&K will fast return to normalcy and peace. That, militant forces will not allow. When they realised that the level of violence has come down across the state, they started making serious attempts to sabotage the situation. That is why there are more attempts at infiltration," he said.
Antony told the state government that though the police was becoming efficient in bringing down the level of violence, it was not possible to 'lower the guard' as infiltration attempts were increasing.
"This increasing number of attempts to infiltrate is a matter of serious concern. So, we cannot lower our guard. We have to be more vigilant and be prepared to face serious threats at any time this year, particularly in January," he said.
