Cong questions disengagement process along LAC

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday posed a set of questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the disengagement process agreed to by the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and objected to the creation of a “buffer zone” on India’s side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

“Dear PM, National Security is sacrosanct. Territorial Integrity is non-negotiable. Pl answer-: 1. Is it correct that under the new protocol with #China, Indian Forces can’t patrol PP-14(Galwan Valley), PP-15(Hot Springs) & PP-17(Gogra)?,” the party’s chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala asked on Twitter.

He also tagged a Hindustan Times report, published on Wednesday, about the focus on patrolling in the area. “Is it not true that there has never been dispute with #China on alignment of LAC in these three areas of Galwan Valley, Hot Spring & Gogra? (See Gen DS Hooda’s comment),” Surjewala said in another tweet, referring to a comment by former Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General DS Hooda (retd) in the report.

The disengagement is based on an understanding reached by top Indian and Chinese military commanders and the Special Representatives of the two countries, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and China’s foreign minister Wang Yi on a phased de-escalation of the ongoing border conflict in the Ladakh theatre, the report said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party did not respond to Surjewala’s questions, and declined to comment on the issue.