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As New Delhi weighs its response, a defining marker of the Ladakh face-off, according to General Ved Prakash Malik, former chief of the Indian army, is that the military-level engagement on the long-contested Line of Actual Control, premised on a series of bilateral agreements and protocols, has ceased to be a dispute resolution mechanism. The savage killing of 20 Indian soldiers by the Chinese military in the deadliest border clash in last four and a half decades has dramatically spiked tensions between the two nuclear-equipped neighbours. As New Delhi weighs its response, a defining marker of the Ladakh face-off, according...

India has reset the rules of engagement with Chinese troops along the entire stretch of their 3,488km long border, with the Indian Army now given a free hand to deal with any provocation by China. Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday approved the new tactical approach in a meeting he held on Sunday with Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat and the three service chiefs, a person familiar with the development said. “The commanders at LAC (line of actual control) can now give troops complete freedom of action to handle situations at the tactical level," the person said, on condition...