Amid the ongoing standoff between India and China, the Indian Navy’s Marine Commandos (MARCOS) have been deployed to the Pangong Lake area in eastern Ladakh.
The idea behind the deployment of MARCOS in eastern Ladakh where the Indian Air Force Garud operatives and the Indian Army Para Special Forces, who have been there since the first day of the conflicts, is to improve integrating the three services and providing exposure to naval commands. extremely cold weather conditions, government sources told ANI.
Also read: Gen Rawat asks the tri-services to stop activities in peacetime in deference to the troops deployed in Ladakh
“The MARCOS have been deployed in the Pangong Lake area where Indian and Chinese forces have been involved in a conflict situation since April-May this year,” the sources said.
Navy commands will also soon obtain new boats for operations on the lake along with existing infrastructure for operations on the lake, they said.
Also read: India sends high-powered boats to match heavier Chinese vessels as it patrols Lake Ladakh
The Indian Army Special Forces, including the Para Special Forces and the Cabinet Secretariat Special Border Force, have been operating in East Ladakh to carry out special operations for a long time.
The Garud Special Forces of the Indian Air Force moved to the hilltops at the strategic heights in the Royal Line of Control (LAC) together with their Igla shoulder air defense systems in the early days of the conflict to take over any enemy fighters or other aircraft that may have attempted to violate Indian airspace.
Special troops belonging to both the Army and the Air Force have been there for more than six months.
Also read: Pak has quietly moved the 11/26 attacks accused of Hafiz Saeed out of jail. He’s home: Intel
Also from August 29-30, the Indian side had used special forces to occupy strategic heights throughout LAC to prevent the Chinese from doing so. The Chinese have also kept special troops on their LAC side.
The Indian Navy has deployed teams from its MARCOS to the Lake Wular area of Jammu and Kashmir to combat terrorism there. The Indian Air Force began deploying Garuds to the Kashmir Valley after the 2016 Pathankot operations to give them the feel of real operations as part of the plans of the then Army Chief and now Chief of Defense Staff, the General Bipin Rawat.
Also Read: ‘Getting Hard Items’ – Jaish Issue 2 Tells Terrorists In Kashmir
Shortly after their deployment, the Garuds proved their worth and won an Ashok Chakra, three Shaurya Chakras, and many other gallantry awards for taking out a team of terrorists led by 11/26 terrorist nephew Zaki Ur Rehman Lakhvi.
After that operation, the Air Force has been sending regular Garud crews for their advanced deployment to the Kashmir Valley.
The Indian Army has many of its special forces battalions deployed to the Kashmir Valley for counter-terrorism operations, including those that carried out surgical strikes in 2016.
.
