At least 45 PLA soldiers killed in Galwan clash: Lt Gen Y K Joshi

February 17, 2021 18:42

At least 45 Chinese soldiers were killed in the violent face-off in Galwan in May 2020, Lt Gen Y K Joshi, the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Armys Northern Command said.

In an interview to CNN-News18, Lt Gen Y K Joshi said no land has been ceded to China.

"No, a very emphatic no actually," he said.

Giving an account of Chinese casualties in the violent Galwan face-off, he said, "I don't want make an estimate. ...We were able to pick up large number of casualties which were being picked up in stretchers and taken back. More than 60 actually, but they were fatal or non fatal, we can't say with authority so I will not hazard a figure on that. But you are aware that recently the Russian agency Tass had put out a figure of 45 and I think that could be the figure we can look at. ...It could be more as well."

Lt Gen Joshi said that India and China came close to an armed conflict yet again on August 29 and 30, 2020 when Indian troops occupied the Kailash heights, a move that forced the Chinese to bend after many rounds of failed Corps Commander-level talks.

"There were situations where it could have blown up into an armed conflict. ...We had the armour and the forces sitting on the top of the Kailash ranges. That was on August 29 and 30th night. On August 31 the adversaries wanted to come up right up to the Kailash Ranges. That was the time the situation was extremely tense. Galwan had happened, the red line had been drawn. We had been given absolute free hand to conduct operations the way we wanted. ...We were on the edge, we were absolutely on the brink. And those are very tense and challenging moments for us," Joshi said.

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