India fully equipped to face any challenge, says Nirmala Sitharaman

The Indian armed forces are fully equipped to face any contingency, Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday.

The military is closely monitoring the situation along the border with Pakistan and is prepared to respond any attack. "I assure the people of the nation that we are prepared to deal with every kind of situation. The Defence Ministry, along with the Indian Army, is all decked up. We are monitoring every situation very diligently and closely," said Sitharaman.

As part of the disengagement, the Chinese troops left the dispute area of Dokalam along with bulldozers and removed the tents which they had pitched. Reportedly, there were about 1700-1800 Chinese troops in the area where they proposed to build a road and all of them have left. Meanwhile, the Pakistani troops have violated the ceasefire more than three times in this month. Pakistan violated the ceasefire along the Line of Control 449 times in 2016 as compared to 405 violations in 2015. 23 security personnel were killed in the two-year period.