NEW DELHI, Sept 19: Chinese soldiers are present in Pakistan-administered Kashmir to provide security to its ongoing railways and road projects there, Indian Army Chief General Bikram Singh said on Wednesday.

“We are told that Chinese soldiers are there to provide protection to their ongoing projects related to their railways, road and hydro-electric projects and it is basically for security purposes,” the Press Trust of India quoted Gen Singh as saying. The claim comes just days after China pointedly denied any presence of the People’s Liberation Army in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

“As Minister of National Defence of China, I’d like to take this opportunity to clarify to you once again: the PLA has never deployed a single soldier in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir,” Chinese Defence Minister General Liang Guanglie had told The Hindu newspaper on Sept 3.

The timing of the Indian claim is curious not the least because representatives of all three countries would be headed for New York for the UN General Assembly session later this month.

Gen Singh appeared to take the alleged presence of the rival troops in his stride. “We have already conveyed this to the government and whatever is there, we have our frontiers guarded well,” he said.

Asked if it was possible for any country to repeat 1962, when Chinese troops had engaged India in a brief war, Gen Singh said: “Such an event will not be repeated as the country's forces have got plans in place to protect the territorial integrity of the nation. No. It will not be repeated. I am assuring the nation as Chief of the Army Staff that 1962 will not be repeated. No way. Country's borders are well protected and the army will not allow the enemy to cross it.”