Chinese intrusions small issue, 'happens many times': Parrikar

Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar Wednesday played down intrusions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) by the Chinese army calling most violations as a "small issue" perceived as a major problem by the media.

Parrikar, who was addressing a press conference in Panaji, his first since he became union defence minister, also said that the main problem and the real need of the hour was establishing proper infrastructural backup in India's border regions.

"...what you call as intrusion or crossing the line of actual control, imaginary line of control, happens many times in many sectors, but it is taken care on the same day or within a couple of days. Except one or two incidents, there is no serious incident," Parrikar said in response to a query.

When specifically asked if there was a Chinese camp on the Indian side of the LAC, Parrikar said he could not respond to the query specifically.

"I can't answer you that specifically... There are small breaches of what you call as line of actual control, that is not to be taken too seriously... overall the problem is being tackled in a different way. I'll not discuss about individual crossings... I think it is a major problem from the media angle," he said.

"The real problem is we should establish proper infrastructural backup in those areas. I will not tell you what are the lackings (is lacking), because that is never discussed. But what is required is filling up the gap, whatever it is, in the next one or two years, so that we create capability," he said.

"The intrusion you are talking about is a very small issue. It happens when two army vehicles come opposite each other. Then they do banner drills. That happens almost every second day... that is not very important," Parrikar said. - IANS