Let's get facts straight first: S Jaishankar on Rahul Gandhi 'unarmed' remark

New Delhi : Indian soldiers involved in the face-off with Chinese troops were not unarmed, instead, they do not use their arms in a face-off situation, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said in a tweet on Thursday. His comments were a reply to former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's allegations.

"Let us get the facts straight. All troops on border duty always carry arms, especially when leaving post. Those at Galwan on 15 June did so," Jaishankar tweeted on the clash.

Nearly, 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives during the violent clash at Galwan valley.

Jaishankar added that there was a long-standing practise established in view of two agreements of 1996 and 2005 not to use firearms during faceoffs”.

The first agreement was signed by the Deve Gowda government that was supported by Congress and the second during the first edition of the Manmohan Singh government.

Rahul Gandhi had slammed the killings and had raised questions on the government. He had tweeted, "How dare China kill our UNARMED soldiers? Why were our soldiers sent UNARMED to martyrdom?"

Jaishankar, in his conversation with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, had underscored that the People’s Liberation Army soldiers had a pre-meditated plan to change the agreed alignment of the Line of Actual Control and push out Indian Army from Patrolling Point 14.

Point 14 is on a ridge that overlooks both the Galwan River Valley and the Galwan Nullah which joins the Shyok river on whose bank India is building the DSBO road. It was set up by the army in 1978.