ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister said on Wednesday that India had rejected all efforts by China for a peaceful resolution of a border dispute between the two neighbors, leading to this week’s “bloody confrontation” on their Himalayan frontier in which at least 20 Indian troops were killed.
Hundreds of Indian and Chinese troops have been facing each other since early May on the disputed border in the mountains of Ladakh, captured by China during a war in 1962. This week’s clashes were the worst since 1967.
A past agreement between the two sides stipulates that patrols could not open fire near the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto border between India and China. Violent skirmishes have erupted several times in the past without guns being fired.
“India’s stubbornness led to a skirmish on May 9,” Shah Mahmood Qureshi said in a statement, referring to past tensions, “but it has now turned into a bloody confrontation.”
China, which has not yet confirmed any casualties, has accused Indian forces of carrying out “provocative attacks” on its troops. Indian officials have said 20 soldiers were killed in ensuing clashes.
On Wednesday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his country was capable of giving China a “befitting reply.”
“The sacrifice of our soldiers will not be in vain,” he said in a televized speech. 
Military experts say a major reason for the current face-off is that India has been building roads and airfields on its side of the LAC. At Galwan, India completed a road leading to an airfield last October. This was opposed by China, which asked India to stop all construction. 
“China’s position is principled. Tibet and Ladakh’s 3500 km area is a disputed border area between India and China and if India thinks that it will get it, it may not be acceptable to China,” the Pakistani foreign minister said.
China had tried its best to resolve the border issue with India through dialogue, Qureshi added, “but India continues construction in the disputed area.”
Pakistan has its own conflict with India over the disputed Kashmir region, which both countries claim in full but rule in part. Tensions between the rival neighbors were renewed last August after New Delhi withdrew Kashmir’s autonomy and split it into federally-administered territories.
“Pakistan has rejected the unilateral move taken by India in occupied Kashmir on August 5 and China has also objected to it,” Qureshi said.
Retired air vice marshal Shahzad Chaudhry, a security analyst said, India had ambitions to control both the Line of Actual Control with China and the Line of Control (LOC), which divides the disputed Kashmir region between Pakistan and India. He said India was trying to build a military base in the Daulat Beg Oldie area near Ladakh, which was “unacceptable to China.”
“China has checkmated the Indian move, and now India has no other option than accepting the Chinese stance,” Chaudhry said.