Additional 2,000 ITBP troops may be sent to Sino-India border amid standoff

New Delhi: About 2,000 additional troops of the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) may be sent to forward locations along the Sino-India border to strengthen vigil amid the standoff between the Indian Army and Chinese troops in Ladakh.

The ITBP personnel, currently engaged in different duties in various parts of the country, is being requisitioned in view of the prevailing situation in Ladakh.

About 20 additional companies (2,000 troops) are likely to the deployed in different locations of the Sino-Indian border, a senior government official said.

The ITBP guards the 3,488 km long Line of Actual Control between India and China, along with the Indian Army.

ITBP personnel are deployed around 180 border guarding posts –from Karakoram pass to Jachep La — located in Union Territory of Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and and Arunachal Pradesh.

Twenty Indian Army personnel were killed in a clash with Chinese troops on June 15 in Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh, raising tension in the relations between India and China.