Other friction points on table next: Centre
NEW DELHI: Outstanding problems with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at Depsang, Hot Springs and Gogra — friction points on the contested border in eastern Ladakh — will be tackled after full disengagement between rival soldiers in the Pangong Tso area, where mutual withdrawal of front-line troops is underway, the defence ministry said on Friday.
This was the first official mention of Depsang, which lies south of Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) in a strategic area that the military calls Sub-sector North, as a friction point after border tensions began last May.
The outstanding issues related to deployment and patrolling at the three friction points will be taken up within 48 hours of pullback of troops deployed on strategic heights on the north and south banks of Pangong Tso, the ministry said in a statement.
Disengagement in the Pangong Tso area along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) began on Wednesday.
India has not ceded any territory to China as a result of the disengagement agreement, the ministry said hours after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given away land in the Finger area on the north bank of Pangong Tso to the neighbour. Gandhi asked why the government was silent on Depsang.
the contrary, it (the agreement) has enforced observance and respect for LAC and prevented any unilateral change in the status quo,” the statement said. External affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava told reporters that the agreement was reached after several rounds of sustained negotiations at the military and diplomatic levels.
Giving out details of the Pangong Tso disengagement plan in Parliament on Thursday, defence minister Rajnath Singh said the PLA will retreat to its base east of Finger 8, the Indian Army will move back to
its permanent position near Finger 3 and neither side will patrol the contested areas in between until an agreement is reached through future talks.
Singh also told both Houses that India did not “concede anything” during the military talks, and added that there were still some outstanding issues at some other points along the LAC.
Disengagement is progressing smoothly in the Pangong Tso area and it could be over in two weeks after which talks would focus on the other friction points, people familiar with the developments said on Fri“on
day. “Both sides on Friday withdrew more troops from the area for third straight day. Armoured and artillery elements retreated to their respective positions from heights on the south bank on Thursday. Infantry is now being pulled back,” said one of the officials cited above, asking not to be named. Focus will shift to Depsang, Hot Springs and Gogra after Pangong Tso.
PLA’S deployments in Depsang have hindered access of Indian soldiers to routes including the ones leading to Patrolling Points (PP) 10, 11, 11-A, 12 and 13.
NEW DELHI : The Centre Friday told the Supreme Court that President Ram Nath Kovind is seized of the matter pertaining to Balwant S Rajoana’s plea seeking commutation of the death penalty awarded to him in former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh’s assassination case, and a decision will be taken on it.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde was told by solicitor general Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Centre, that Rajoana had assassinated a former chief minister on the issue of ‘Khalistan’ -- a demand for separate statehood for Sikhs.
“The process has started and the President will take a decision. This is a case where the convict is accused of assassinating a former CM on the issue of ‘Khalistan’,” Mehta told the bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian. He said in the present circumstances, six weeks be granted to the Centre in the matter. The bench allowed Mehta’s request and adjourned the matter by six weeks. The apex court had on January 25 granted the “last chance” to the Centre to decide within two weeks on Rajoana’s plea seeking commutation of death penalty in the case. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Rajoana, had told the apex court that “this man is in jail for over 25 years and his mercy plea has been pending for the last nine years”.
Rajoana, a former Punjab Police constable, was convicted for his involvement in an explosion outside the Punjab civil secretariat that killed Beant Singh and 16 others in 1995.
The top court had on January 8 asked the Centre to take a decision before January 26 on Rajoana’s
plea for commutation of his death penalty in the case.
It had said that January 26 is a good day and it will be appropriate if the government takes a decision before that. Rajoana’s counsel had earlier argued that his client’s mercy petition is pending since 2012 and the top court has held that the death sentence of a person, if delayed for over eight years, can be commuted. The SC had on December 4 last year questioned the Centre over delay in sending to the President the proposal for commuting Rajoana’s death sentence. It had asked the Centre to apprise it as to when the authority would send the proposal in this regard to the President under Article 72 of the Constitution. The Article deals with power of the President to grant pardon, suspend, remit or commute sentences in certain cases. The apex court had noted that a letter was sent from the MHA to the Punjab chief secretary on September 7 last year intimating that a proposal would be sent to the President to commute Rajoana’s death sentence. His plea has sought direction for expeditious disposal of the MHA proposal.