10TH ROUND OF MILITARY TALKS TODAY
NEW DELHI: The disengagement of Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forces in eastern Ladakh’s Pangong Tso area ended Friday, and senior military commanders of the two sides will meet on Saturday to discuss the next round of disengagement at other friction points along the contested LAC.
NEW DELHI: The disengagement of Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forces in eastern Ladakh’s Pangong Tso area ended Friday, and senior military commanders of the two sides will meet on Saturday to discuss the next round of disengagement at other friction points along the contested Line of Actual Control (LAC), people familiar with the development said.
The Pangong disengagement, which ends one part of a 10-month long impasse between the two armies, fraught with the danger of degenerating into a full-blown conflict, took place on strategic heights on both banks of the lake, and saw the two armies pull back their frontline troops, tanks, infantry combat vehicles and artillery guns under an agreement reached earlier this month. The disengagement began on February 10.
The India-China border standoff in the sensitive Ladakh sector began last May and saw both sides deploy around 50,000 troops each in the theatre along with advanced weaponry.
“Disengagement is complete in the Pangong Tso area and both sides have verified it. It went off smoothly both in the Finger Area and the Kailash range,” said one of the officials cited above. Military structures erected after April 2020 in the Pangong Tso sector were also removed.
The 10th round of talks between corps commanderranked officers of the two armies will focus on disengagement at other friction points in eastern Ladakh, said a second official. The senior commanders will meet at Moldo on the Chinese side of the LAC.
Outstanding problems with PLA at Depsang, Hot Springs and Gogra, all friction points on the contested border, will be on the table during the talks. “We are hopeful of positive outcomes at the talks, given the way things progressed in Pangong Tso,” said the second official.
Under the understanding between the two countries on the disengagement , outstanding issues relating to deployment and patrolling at the three friction points were to be taken up within 48 hours of pullback of troops in the Pangong Tso area.
It’s good to see that the first phase of disengagement has proceeded quickly and smoothly in the Pangong Tso area and this could provide a positive background for further discussions on other areas, said former Northern Army commander
Lieutenant General DS Hooda (retd). “But I think we should not expect very speedy results. Depsang, in particular, is one area where discussions to arrive at a consensus could be protracted. I do hope both sides can arrive at an agreement in the interest of keeping peace along the LAC.”
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.
The Indian Army’s patrolling activity has also been affected in Gogra and Hot Springs, where rival troops are forward deployed and where skeletal disengagement took place last year, but the gains could not be consolidated.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh told Parliament on February 11 that the disengagement will be phased, coordinated and verified at all friction points. He told both Houses that India did not “concede anything” during the military talks.