Sikkim standoff: India says China did not use bulldozers to destroy army bunkers

New Delhi: The Indian Army on Monday maintained that no bulldozers were used when its bunkers were destroyed by Chinese soldiers amid the current standoff with China in the Sikkim sector. [caption id=“attachment_3773835” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The army also denied that the border standoff with China is the longest since 1962. “The incident is not the longest standoff between the two nations,” said a statement issued by the army spokesman in New Delhi while reacting to a PTI story which had given details of the stand-off. The spokesman also said that no bulldozers were “ever employed” for destroying the Indian bunkers and that no physical scuffle had occurred between the personnel of Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). A senior government functionary had earlier said that bulldozers were used to destroy the Indian bunkers. The spokesman also claimed that no such incident ever happened on 6 June and referred to a statement made by the Ministry of External Affairs in which the date of incident was mentioned as 16 June. The spokesman went on to clarify that “India-China relations as also the relationship between both the armies are extremely well managed by a host of mechanisms.” “The MoD (Ministry of Defence) or the Indian Army has neither issued any official statement nor has undertaken any unofficial briefings due to the fact that such sensitive issues are best dealt between two nations away from the media glare,” the spokesman said. He said that in this situation “as some of the acts have happened involving Bhutan, therefore, Ministry of External Affairs has already given a substantial briefing on the issue.”