ITBP chief says face-offs with Chinese troops in Arunachal Pradesh are still ongoing

The head of the force that guards India's border with China has said the confrontations in Arunachal Pradesh are real and still happening.

Indo-Tibetan Border Police Director General Shatrujeet Singh Kapoor spoke on Thursday, Oct. 22, at the Central Training College in Alwar, Rajasthan, ahead of the force's 65th Raising Day on Oct. 24. "In the past few days, a situation arose where face-off happened at several locations in Arunachal and it still continues," he said.

He praised the force's newly raised Shaurya commandos for their handling of it. "Our Shaurya commando teams played an exemplary role," he said.

Kapoor did not say where the face-offs are happening or how many troops are involved. In the lines quoted from the speech about the face-offs, he did not name the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Elsewhere in the same address he called China India's "biggest adversary."

What was already known

Local accounts of PLA activity in Upper Subansiri district go back to July. On July 10, a fact-finding team of the People's Party of Arunachal, led by former minister Kahfa Bengia, visited the Taksing area. The team alleged that PLA troops were blocking Indian forces from reaching designated patrolling points and taking over grazing and hunting grounds used by local communities.

The BJP-led state government rejected those allegations. Union minister Kiren Rijiju said there had been no fresh Chinese occupation of territory in the state. He did acknowledge local concerns about access to some grazing areas.

Government sources told The Hindu that since late July, the two armies have been in a stand-off at Asaphila near Taksing. According to those sources, Indian and Chinese patrols met near the Maja company operating base in July and withdrew after a brief confrontation. The PLA allegedly returned in larger numbers a few days later and pitched tents at an elevation 6 to 7 km inside India's perception of the Line of Actual Control. The sources said India has increased its deployment. Neither government has publicly confirmed those specifics.

Talks while the standoff continued

The diplomatic calendar was busy over the same period.

• Aug. 6: the 36th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on border affairs.
• Aug. 26: the 25th round of Special Representatives talks in Beijing, with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval representing India.
• Sept. 6: the first Corps Commander-level meeting in the Eastern Sector, at the Vacha-Damai border personnel meeting point.
• Sept. 11-13: the 18th BRICS Summit in India, attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

According to the Hindu's government sources, the stand-off persisted through all of it. Local accounts cited by Siasat say face-offs continued while Xi was in the country.

The Ministry of External Affairs, asked in August about the situation, said border-area matters have a bearing on the bilateral relationship.

Opposition attacks the government's silence

The Congress party seized on the DG's remarks. General secretary Jairam Ramesh said on X that Kapoor had rightly praised the force. He accused the Prime Minister and his establishment of "deafening silence" and of making "calibrated concessions" to China.

Ramesh claimed that, according to local people, patrolling points have been lost, as happened in Ladakh. He also pointed to China renaming places in Arunachal Pradesh and building a 60,000-MW dam, which he said is a threat. Those are Ramesh's claims. The government has not publicly responded to them or to the DG's remarks.

The government's earlier position, from Rijiju, was that no new territory had been occupied. Kapoor's statement does not say otherwise. It confirms confrontations, not a loss of ground. Where those face-offs sit relative to the LAC, and whether Indian patrols can reach their usual points, remains unanswered by any official.

Drones, bunkers and a new unit

Most of Kapoor's address was about preparing for a harder border. He said traditional methods of countering China are no longer enough, given the PLA's investment in modernization. He cited the Russia-Ukraine and Iran-US wars as proof that drones let a smaller force challenge a larger one.

The numbers he gave:

• ITBP has received Rs 400 crore in government funding, with 70% earmarked for drone warfare.
• The Ministry of Home Affairs has given in-principle approval to a Rs 4,000-crore modernization plan, with Rs 1,000 crore for drone and anti-drone systems.
• Every border-guarding battalion now has a drone platoon, and the force is training drone pilots and building its own drones.
• A new "Strike" course, designed for Galwan-style clashes like the June 2020 fight in which 20 Indian soldiers died, will cover the entire force by the end of 2027.
• Shaurya commandos are to be deployed in every border battalion, with a full battalion planned soon.
• Underground bunkers are being built at border locations, with the aim of matching underground facilities to above-ground structures within three years.

ITBP has about 95,000 personnel and guards the 3,488-km LAC. Kapoor also said the force should not abandon its original mountain guerrilla mandate, which dates to its border-guarding assignment along China in 2004.

These are plans and approvals, not delivered capability. A Rs 4,000-crore scheme with only in-principle approval has not yet been spent.

What comes next

Kapoor retires on Oct. 31. The force marks its Raising Day tomorrow, Oct. 24. Neither the Ministry of Home Affairs nor the Ministry of External Affairs has addressed his statement. It is not yet known whether either will confirm the locations, the number of troops involved, or the status of the Asaphila stand-off.

The next round of Corps Commander-level or Special Representatives talks has not been announced.