As Tezpur Corps commander,Jaswal visited China in 2008

Defence exchanges between India and China have been put on hold after Beijing refused permission to Northern Army Commander Lt Gen B S Jaswal...

Defence exchanges between India and China have been put on hold after Beijing refused permission to Northern Army Commander Lt Gen B S Jaswal to visit that country because he comes from sensitive Jammu and Kashmir.

Lt Gen Jaswal was to visit China in July as part of defence exchanges but it could not take place in view of the Chinese objection. In retaliation,India has put on hold visits by Chinese defence officials here.

But Jaswal visited China in 2008 when he was commanding a Corps in the eastern sector on the Sino-Indian border. Not only that,Beijing did not seem to have any problems,until last year,with military commanders from Jammu and Kashmir visiting China as Lt Gen S K Singh,14 Corps Commander at Leh,was part of a defence delegation to the country and even visited Lhasa.

The sudden turnaround by China to bar Jaswals visit,which many suspect is inspired by Beijings relations with Islamabad,has come as a surprise as the General is very well known to the top brass of the Chinese military as he led a delegation to the country in September 2008,the year that saw an increase in visits by top military leaders.

Not only that,since taking over as Northern Army Commander,Jaswal has continuously downplayed reports of Chinese intrusions and infiltrations at numerous occasions,dispelling reports about increasing border incidents.

Despite reports of intrusions,Jaswal had told The Indian Express earlier this year that there was more of a difference of perception on the boundary. These transgressions continue because of India and Chinas differing perception of the Line of Actual Control, he said. In a separate media interaction,he had added that there had been no intrusion or incursion whatsoever. There have been transgressions. It continues.

In October last year,after taking over as Northern Army Commander,Jaswal had said that there was no immediate reason to be concerned about the Chinese border. The China border has always been sensitive,but there is no immediate cause for tension or worry, he said.

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The military is surprised that China decided to hold back his visit to Beijing just because he has taken over as Northern Army Commander,considering that his last visit was as Commander of the Tezpur-based 4 Corps,which is also responsible for security on the sensitive eastern border with China.

Other than that,Lt Gen S K Singh had also accompanied the then Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen V K Singh during an extended tour of China last year that included a stopover at Lhasa. At that time,there was no mention of the status of Jammu and Kashmir,of which the Ladakh region is a part.