Shinde rules out Army control over ITBP

Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has turned down a proposal to allow the army to take over the command of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in the wake of a recent incursion by Chinese troops in the Ladakh region.

"ITBP will stay with the Home Ministry... There will be no change in command," Shinde said during a press conference here on Wednesday.

He further reiterated that his ministry will continue to hold control of the paramilitary outfits including the Assam Rifles deployed along the Sino-Indian border in the northeast.

"The control of ITBP will stay with the Home Ministry and the Assam Rifles which hold posts close to 20-25 kilometres from the border (in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam), we want its control from the military. We are in talks, nothing has been finalised," said Shinde.

In the wake of recent incursion along the Sino-Indian border in this division, the Army had pushed for taking over control of ITBP for "cohesion, coordination and synergy" to counter the Chinese Army's "offensive" acts.

The Army was of the view that by taking over control, ITBP could be made more productive operationally along the 826 Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The Home Ministry had, during a recent discussion at the highest level in the government, given a blow-by-blow account about the 19km incursion by the Chinese People's Liberation Army in Daulat Beg Oldi sector of Depsang buldge.