Rajnath Singh, Union Defense MInister
New Delhi: In an unusual turn of events, the Ministry of Defence has taken down all of their monthly reports, going as far back as 2017, from its website. The Ministry is yet to issue an explanation for the same.
The erasure began with the removal of the June 2020 report which covers the clash that occurred on the India-China border on June 15th. The conflict that occurred at Galwan valley had resulted in 20 casualties from the Indian side and an undisclosed number of casualties on the Chinese side. Reports dating back to 2017 have been erased including the reports made during the Doklam Valley crisis.
The contents of the reports from April this year gave indications towards Chinese aggression although it did not explicitly call it thus. As the year progressed and the aggression grew obvious, so did the reports.
While the MoD is yet to give an explanation for their actions, the Indian Express was able to find sources within the ministry to shed some light. Although they were unable to give a concrete cause, they said that the reports would be uploaded 'soon' and 'likely within October'. They further clarified that this was done to change the way the information goes out to the public and to make it more 'comprehensive' rather than in the constant update format followed up till now.
Without a statement from the MoD, the public is drawing their conclusions based on the limited information provided and eagerly await clarification.