Army's Northern Command Chief Lt Gen B S Jaswal on Thursday remained unruffled by the Chinese action denying him a visa that fuelled a diplomatic row with India but said it reflected their "predilection".
The officer had denied the charges against him levelled by the Captain-rank woman officer.
The step has been taken to boost tourism in Ladakh and give people a window to appreciate the tough work done by Army jawans and engineers in extreme weather and inhospitable terrains, he said.
The apology came close on the heels of Omar complaining to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about Army's public criticism of the state governemnt's policies to deal with militancy.
Ajai Shukla feels that for Islamabad, engineering China's new tilt is about doing down India. For Beijing, however, this appears to be less about India than about reducing insecurity on a sensitive border.
Triggering a major diplomatic row, China has refused to permit an Indian army general to visit that country as he is in-charge of "sensitive" Jammu and Kashmir, prompting an angry retaliation by India which put all defence exchanges with it on hold till the matter was sorted out.
Seeking to downplay the visa row with India, Chinese experts have said that military ties between the two countries are strong and powerful and will not be "compromised" by incidents like Beijing's refusal to permit a top Indian Army officer to visit the country.
The ultras will be provided six-month vocational training in trade of their choice at the Army-run rehabilitation and training centre (RTC) at Tamulpur. They will also be provided with Rs 1.5 lakh each and the amount will be paid to three-year fixed deposit accounts to be opened against the name of each of the surrendered militants.
After the denial of visa to the then Northern Army Commander Lt Gen B S Jaswal by China in 2010, New Delhi had frozen all bilateral defence exchanges with Beijing
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had gone to China with a bagful of initiatives, but not all seems to have been fulfilled given China's reluctance to go the whole hog with him
