India To Resume Patrolling In Ladakh After Big Breakthrough With China

New Delhi:

India and China have arrived on a patrolling arrangement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Himalayas, and it can lead to disengagement and resolution of tension that began with skirmishes in May 2020, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said today.

The breakthrough came ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia to attend the BRICS summit tomorrow.

It is understood that the agreement pertains to patrolling in Depsang and Demchok areas, news agency PTI reported.

Mr Misri, the top diplomat in the External Affairs Ministry (MEA), said diplomatic and military negotiators of the two countries had held several rounds of talks over the past few weeks. These talks have resulted in an agreement on “patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas leading to disengagement and a resolution of the issues that had risen in these areas in 2020”, he said.

Though there has been no official announcement, it is expected that PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the summit of the informal group of states comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS).

The last meeting of the working mechanism for consultation and coordination on India-China border affairs was held on August 29 in Beijing. The two sides then had a frank, constructive and forward-looking exchange of views on the situation along the LAC to narrow down differences and find early resolution of outstanding issues.

It was agreed that restoration of peace and tranquillity, and respect for the LAC are the essential basis for restoration of normalcy in bilateral relations.

Earlier this month, Indian Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi had said the two sides have resolved the “low-hanging fruits” and now need to address difficult situations, adding there was “positive signalling” from the diplomatic side and execution on the ground was dependent on military commanders of the two countries.

Indian and Chinese military commanders too had been meeting regularly seeking complete disengagement in the remaining areas along the LAC in eastern Ladakh as an essential basis for restoration of peace and tranquillity in the India-China border areas.

Some areas still remained to be de-escalated after Indian and Chinese troops withdrew from Gogra-Hot Springs in Ladakh in September 2022. The Chinese forces in this area had returned to pre-2020 positions. Even then, Chinese soldiers were still believed to hold large swathes of Indian territory to the north in the Depsang plains.

Fierce clashes between soldiers of both sides took place in eastern Ladakh’s Galwan in June 2020, in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed in action. Over 40 Chinese soldiers were killed or injured.

With inputs from Reuters