Leh, Sep 7 (IANS): Sending mixed signals, senior BJP leader Ram Madhav, who is in Ladakh for the party's first-ever state executive meeting in the newly created Union Territory, attended Subedar Nyima Tenzin, Special Frontier Force, hero's funeral but later deleted a tweet which he posted hailing him as "valiant".

In his now-deleted tweet, he referred to the border as "Indo-Tibetan" as opposed to "Indo-Chinese". China considers Tibet as part of its own territory.

His presence at the funeral is seen as a strong signal to China, given that Subedar Tenzi who was killed during an operation on the south bank of Pangong Lake and was laid to rest at Leh with full military honours on Monday, was a Tibetan himself. In fact, chants of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai", "Jai Tibet" and "Vikas Regiment Zindabad" reverberated during the funeral procession. Amid the waving of Tibetan flags, Madhav paid his last respects to the martyred soldier.

However, the concerned tweet was deleted without posting a fresh one. Madhav had tweeted, "Attended the funeral of SFF Coy Ldr Nyima Tenzin, a Tibetan who laid down his life protecting our borders in Ladakh, and laid a wreath as a tribute. Let the sacrifices of such valiant soldiers bring peace along the Indo-Tibetan border. That will be the real tribute to all martyrs." He had also posted 4 photos of himself attending the ceremony.

However, after such a strongly worded tweet and an even more powerful gesture, the reason for deleting the tweet remains unknown.

Tenzin sacrificed his life during the pre-emptive operation the Indian Army carried out on the southern bank of the Pangong Lake in eastern Ladakh last week to foil a fresh move by the Chinese People's Liberation Army to transgress into Indian territory. During the operation, another junior soldier Tenzin Loden, 24, was critically injured in the same explosion and is currently undergoing treatment at the military hospital in Ladakh. The injured Tenzin Loden is from the same settlement.

India and China are engaged in an around four-month-long standoff at the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh. Despite several levels of dialogue, there has not been any breakthrough and the deadlock continues. On June 15, as many as 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese troops were killed in a violent clash in the Galwan Valley.