PM lists disputed areas with Pak, China

New Delhi: Prime Minister Indira Gandhi told the Lok Sabha today, there was no question of demarcating the India- China border unless the Chinese aggression in Ladakh was vacated and unless Chinese claims to other parts of Indian territory in the middle and eastern sectors were dropped.

Gandhi, in a written reply to Sushila Nayar, gave the House the extent of India’s borders under dispute with Pakistan and China.

On the India- Pakistan borders, the Prime Minister mentioned the following disputes:

Assam- East Pakistan border — seven miles.

Tripura- East Pakistan border — 48 miles.

The other undemarcated boundaries apart from the Jammu and Kashmir sector, were as follows:

Gujarat- West Pakistan boundary ( 290 miles).

West Bengal- East Pakistan boundary ( 95 miles excluding nearly 98 miles of “fluid” boundary).

Assam- East Pakistan boundary ( 190 miles).

Tripura- East Pakistan boundary ( 336 miles).

Gandhi said as the demarcation of the Indo- Pakistan boundaries had to be done jointly with the Pakistan authorities efforts were continuously being made to enlist their cooperation in the expeditious demarcation of the boundaries.

The Prime Minister said that in the western sector of the India- China border, the Chinese government claimed approximately 14,500 square miles of Indian territory. In the middle sector, the Chinese government’s claim amounted to approximately 1,000 square miles of the Indian territory. In the eastern sector, the Chinese government claimed the entire territory of NEFA which belonged to India up to the foot- hills of the Himalayas, as Chinese territory.