Indian and Chinese troops will completely disengage in Depsang and Demchok areas of Ladakh by Tuesday and return to pre-April 2020 positions, Army sources said this afternoon.
Armies on both sides will return to pre-April 2020 status and all temporary infrastructure – sheds or tents – will be removed, while ground commanders will continue to hold regular meetings.
Sources said each side will also continue to have surveillance options in the Depsang and Demchok areas, and will inform the other before setting out on patrol “to avoid any miscommunication”.
India and China last week reached a patrolling agreement – only for these areas – which will, hopefully, put an end to more than four years of military and diplomatic tensions emanating from the Line of Actual Control.
The tensions were heightened by a series of military skirmishes in the Pangong Lake area in May 2020 and including the clash in Galwan in Ladakh in June, in which 20 Indian soldiers were martyred for their country.
NDTV explains. India-China Border Patrol Agreement: What is it, why is it important
In the weeks and months following the Galwan violence, both countries increased military presence along the LAC, the de facto international border; In August last year it was reported that Delhi had airlifted around 70,000 troops, over 90 tanks and hundreds of infantry fighting vehicles, as well as deployed Sukhoi and Jaguar fighter jets to eastern Ladakh for rapid deployment in the region. Were.
The Army had earlier said Beijing had similarly deployed a large number of troops “across eastern Ladakh and the northern front, up to (India’s) Eastern Command”.
On the process of withdrawal of troops and de-escalation, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi said this week that the Indian Army is “trying to restore confidence” in its Chinese counterpart.
Read | “Trying to restore trust”: Army chief on India-China patrol agreement
“This (rebuilding of trust) will happen when we are able to see each other, and will be able to explain and assure each other that we are not going to go into the buffer zone that has been created,” the general said.
The patrol agreement was announced hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia for the BRICS summit, where he will hold bilateral talks with China’s Xi Jinping.
Read | PM Modi, Xi welcome “complete disengagement” on LAC
Speaking after it was confirmed, Mr Modi told the Chinese leader, “It should be our priority to ensure that there is peace and stability on our border”, and stressed the need for “mutual trust, mutual respect”.
Earlier, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told NDTV that the agreement was the result of “patient and sustained diplomacy”. Speaking at NDTV’s World Summit, he said, “I think this sets the stage for peace and tranquility on the border, which was there before 2020…”
Following the disengagement of Indian and Chinese armies in September last year, de-escalation of tensions in other areas, including the Gogra-Hot Springs area in Ladakh, is still a matter of concern. However, intelligence indicates that China continues to occupy large parts of Indian territory in the Depsang plains in the north.
Depsang is considered important for India as it provides access to the airstrip at Daulat Beg Oldie and prevents Chinese troops from threatening important logistics centers in the area. Meanwhile, Demchok is divided into two parts by the LAC; India controls the western part, which is claimed by China.
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