Ministry of Defence has removed all monthly reports since 2017 from its website, including those on ‘unilateral aggression’ by China in Ladakh and the Doklam crisis in 2017.
‘The Ministry said the earlier reports will be back on the website soon, likely within October,’ The Indian Express reported. The defence ministry said that the mechanism for preparation and sharing of reports publicly is being cleaned up to make them more ‘comprehensive.’
The reports do not mention major operations like the Balakot strike, the Doklam standoff and the India-Pakistan dogfight. Further, no reports before 2017 were available on the website even before their removal.
Three months after the standoff between India and China started and two days after it was uploaded, the document on the MoD website that admitted to Chinese intrusion into Indian territory in eastern Ladakh was taken down on August 6.
That report said, ‘Chinese aggression has been increasing along the LAC and more particularly in Galwan Valley since 5th May, 2020’ and ‘the Chinese side transgressed in the areas of Kugrang Nala, Gogra and the north bank of Pangong Tso lake on 17–18 May, 2020’.
It mentioned the June 15 clashes in Galwan Valley, and stated that senior military commanders were in talks to de-escalate tensions. It also warned that ‘while engagement and dialogue at military and diplomatic level is continuing to arrive at mutually acceptable consensus the present standoff is likely to be prolonged’.
The joint report for April and May did not mention about the Chinese aggression, but pointed to the crisis along the LAC without any specifics.
In the reports since August 2019, there were four mentions of China: a meeting of the ‘India-China Joint Working Group’ on August 13-14, 2019; ‘the Joint Army Exercise ‘Hand-in-Hand’ between Indian Army and PLA, China was conducted from 7th – 20th December, 2019 in Umroi Cantt, Meghalaya’; the February 5, 2020 sighting of a Chinese warship, Jiangwei-Il, in Pakistani waters not far from Porbandar; and, the March 2020 report on the construction of a Bailey bridge by the BRO ‘to meet strategic requirements and ensure connectivity to 451 villages in Upper Subansiri District bordering China’.
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