ITBP chief says face-offs with Chinese troops continue in Arunachal. Congress attacks the Centre, while MEA says the border is disturbed when China diverges from patrol patterns.
A remark by the head of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) about continuing face-offs with Chinese troops in Arunachal Pradesh has set off a political storm in the capital, drawing sharp attacks from the Congress and a carefully worded response from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Speaking to his troops at a force base in Alwar, Rajasthan, on Thursday, ITBP Director General Shatrujeet Kapur said a situation had arisen in the past few days in which face-offs took place at several locations in Arunachal Pradesh, and that it "still continues." Kapur, who retires on October 31, said the force's newly raised Shaurya commandos had shown their skills during the ongoing standoff.
He also described China as India's "biggest adversary" and spoke of a push towards drones, anti-drone systems and underground shelters at border outposts. A new training course, "Strike," has been designed for Galwan-like situations, and the whole force is to complete it by the end of 2027. Sources later told NDTV that his comments referred to routine deployment and preparedness and not to any specific incident.
On Friday, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh accused the Prime Minister of maintaining a "deafening silence" on the reported face-offs. He also pointed to India's record trade deficit with China, which he put at USD 112 billion in 2025-26. At the time of the reports, neither the government nor the BJP had responded to these claims.
Asked about Kapur's remarks at a briefing the same day, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal referred questions to the Ministry of Defence. He did, however, say that the situation in the border areas "gets disturbed from time to time when Chinese forces diverge from established patrolling patterns." He added that both sides continue to use existing diplomatic and military mechanisms to avoid misunderstanding and miscalculation, and have agreed to discuss ways to improve understanding of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in appropriate areas.
The episode lands awkwardly against the official line of recent weeks. Chief of Defence Staff General NS Raja Subramani told NDTV in September that the border situation was stable, and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said last week that ties had improved compared with 2024 and 2025, while stressing that peace on the border was essential. Kapur's words, and the debate that followed, show how closely the border and the broader India-China relationship are being watched.
There has been no official confirmation of the scale or nature of the reported face-offs.
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