India-China border face-off: PM Modi convenes all-party meeting on June 19

 The face-off at Galwan Valley in Ladakh is believed to be the first such incident along the border with China in which Indian armed forces personnel have been killed after a gap of nearly 45 years

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has convened an all-party virtual meet on June 19 to discuss the situation on the India-China border, his office said on Wednesday (June 17). Presidents of various political parties will participate in the virtual meeting at 5 pm on Friday, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said.

Twenty Indian Army personnel including a colonel were killed in the clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on Monday night, the biggest military confrontation in over five decades that has significantly escalated the already volatile border standoff between the two.

"In order to discuss the situation in the India-China border areas, Prime Minister @narendramodi has called for an all-party meeting at 5 pm on 19th June. Presidents of various political parties would take part in this virtual meeting," the PMO tweeted.

A total of 20 Indian Army personnel were killed during a “violent clash” with Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh’s Galwan Valley on Monday night, escalating the already volatile border standoff between the two sides, an Army statement said on Tuesday.

Initially, the Indian Army said one officer and two soldiers were killed. Later in the night, an Army statement said 17 more soldiers who “were critically injured in the line of duty at the standoff location and exposed to sub-zero temperatures in the high altitude terrain have succumbed to their injuries, taking the total that were killed in action to 20”.

 China has not released any information on the casualties suffered by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers during the “violent” face-off in eastern Ladakh.