The India-China stand-off at Galwan Valley took a violent turn on the night of June 15, the results of which will reverberate beyond the remote Himalayan ranges.
The Indian Army statements noted that it lost 20 soldiers, and there were "casualties on both sides". The Chinese authorities have been reticent about losses on their side. It may sound bizarre in this day and age that soldiers of two very powerful armies used stones and nail-studded clubs on each other in their deadly melee. But the protocols, which restrain soldiers from firing at each other, had helped to prevent escalation for almost 45 years. Prior to the recent incident, the last reported fatalities were in 1975, when an Indian patrol was shot at by Chinese in Tulung La in Arunachal Pradesh.
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