NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd July, 2020) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Bipin Rawat arrived on Friday in the Leh District of the Ladakh region for the first time since the escalation of tensions with China, sources told Sputnik.
The prime minister is going to meet injured soldiers at the Leh Hospital, as well as the corps commander and other senior military officials.
Sources in the Indian prime ministerial office told Sputnik later that Modi � who is also accompanied by Chief of the Army Staff Manoj Mukund Naravane � was currently in Nimu in Ladakh. According to the sources, the prime minister is now being briefed by the Indian Army's Northern Command chief and the Northern Command's strategically important XIV Corps. Apart from communicating with the army staff, Modi will also talk to the Indian Air Force and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.
According to the sources, the objective of Modi's visit to Ladakh is "to boost the morale of soldiers and send a strategic message to China."
The tensions over border disputes between India and China escalated on May 31, when a deadly brawl broke out between soldiers of both sides in the disputed Ladakh region. India said that 20 of its soldiers died in the skirmish, while an undisclosed number of Chinese soldiers are believed to have perished.
