Quiet trip to Bhutan on security

Bipin Rawat

PTI, TT, New Delhi: Army chief Bipin Rawat, foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale and national security adviser Ajit Doval quietly travelled to Bhutan earlier this month for talks on key strategic issues, including Doklam and China's increasing military posturing and infrastructure development around the plateau, authoritative government sources said.

The sources said the two sides reviewed bilateral security and defence cooperation.

The visit took place between February 6 and 7 and "positive" outcomes emerged from the meetings between the Indian officials and the Bhutanese government, multiple government sources said.

The visit by Gen. Rawat, Doval and Gokhale was the first by top Indian officials to Bhutan since the Doklam standoff, and was kept under wraps by the two sides. It came three days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with his Bhutanese counterpart Tshering Tobgay on the sidelines of an investors' summit in Guwahati.

Ajit Doval

The sources said the Bhutanese side apprised the Indians of the status of boundary talks between Bhutan and China, and emphasised that Thimphu wanted peace in the Doklam tri-junction.

Indian and Chinese troops were locked in a 73-day standoff in Doklam last year after India stopped the construction of a road at the tri-junction by the Chinese army.