Army Posts Picture Of Northern Command Chief At 'Ground Zero' In Galwan Valley

The Twitter handle of the Indian Army's Northern Command has posted a picture of the Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi, the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the command, taken during his visit to "ground zero" in the Galvan River Valley, not very far from the site of the June 2020 clash between India and China.

Lieutenant General Dwivedi visited forward areas along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh, where India and China have been locked in a tense military standoff since May 2020.

The picture posted by the Northern Command shows Lieutenant General Dwivedi interacting with the soldiers of the Dogra Regiment with a large Indian flag on the cliff side of a mountain in the background. A smaller tricolour can be seen fluttering on a flagpole on the opposite side, along with the flag of the Dogra Regiment, which was earlier mistaken as the Snow Lion flag used by the Tibetans in exile.

Based on satellite imagery, Ladakh watchers have claimed that the picture of Lieutenant General Dwivedi in the Galwan Valley was taken at the forward-most camp of India in the area located before the buffer zone established as part of the disengagement process. This also explains the Northern Command's use of the phrase "ground zero" in the tweet above.

This is the first time in recent months that the Indian Army has posted a picture of a senior officer in the Galvan Valley. The development comes months after the People's Liberation Army of the Chinese Communist Party leaked pictures and videos as part of its propaganda campaign. At the time, India had released pictures of Indian soldiers deployed in the Galwan Valley holding the national flag.

In January this year, a propaganda video of Chinese soldiers unfurling the country's flag in the Galwan River Valley had caused uproar in India. Based on the video, the Opposition, led by the Congress, had demanded an explanation from the Narendra Modi government.

However, satellite imagery had later revealed that the video was shot in territory that has been under Chinese control for decades, over 1.2 kilometres away from the Indian side.

The picture posted by the Indian Army's northern command appears to be a response to Chinese psy-ops. However, experts believe that India is unlikely to be caught in the trap of responding to every propaganda photo or video released leaked by the People's Liberation Army.