New Delhi: Indian and Chinese troops will finish their disengagement at Depsang and Demchok by 28 October and carry out their first coordinated patrol by the month-end, Indian Army sources said Friday.
The agreement reached on Monday pertains to only Depsang and Demchok, the Army sources said, adding that the buffer zones created in other conflict points in Eastern Ladakh as part of the disengagement plans reached since 2020 will remain. The Corps Commander, they said, signed the final agreement on Depsang and Demchok Monday after several days of tactical negotiations with the Chinese.
The move comes after the diplomats of both countries signed an overall framework to disengage and lower tensions at the Line of Actual Control.
The Indian and Chinese military commanders are still in talks over patrolling in the earlier-created buffer zones, and that will be a separate agreement, the Army sources said.
The sources also underlined that there was no quid pro quo in the arrangement with the Chinese.
In Depsang and Demchok, the sources said, both sides would complete disengagement by 28-29 October. It would entail pulling back troops in line with the April 2020 status and removing any permanent or semi-permanent structures, such as tents, huts, weapon positions, and vehicles, they said.
They added that patrolling would take place at all locations in Depsang and Demchok as was carried out as of April 2020.
Interestingly, the last time the Indian soldiers went near patrolling points (PP) 10, 11, 12, and 13 in the Depsang sector was in January 2020, which, incidentally, was after over a year of not touching those points.
“Not every point has to be touched. Indian Army will go to all places, which it did in January 2020,” a source asserted, without getting into the specifics.
The Chinese have been blocking Indian troops from the so-called ‘bottleneck’ area since May 2020.
However, since 2017, the Chinese troops have been regularly blocking Indian troops from reaching the patrolling points in the Y-junction area after the Indian troops crossed the ‘bottleneck’ area and reached there. It’s called the Y-junction because two roads lead to the various patrolling points.
It was not immediately clear whether the Army meant that the Chinese would pull back to the Y-junction when they said April 2020 positions, or the Chinese would return to their positions as before 2017.
In the case of Demchok, the Chinese have been blocking Indian patrol teams from going to the Charding Nalla since 2017, thereby not allowing access to the Charding La pass. In May 2020, the Chinese crossed the nalla and put a tent up on the Indian side.
Again, it was not immediately clear if the Chinese would go to the April 2020 positions now, continuing to block Indian patrols, or whether they would allow patrols up to Charding La.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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