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.

“On 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 Friday.

“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.

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.

“The synchronised and simultaneous disengagement process is seemingly progressing as planned. This augurs well for subsequent disengagement from other friction points. While we may not trust the Chinese post the Galwan Valley clash, we need to trust ourselves and the armed forces to protect our interests,” said Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia (retd), a former director general of military operations.

The disengagement will be phased, coordinated and verified at all friction points. It could be a time-consuming process and take several months, said a second official. The external affairs ministry didn’t go into specifics such as the next steps for disengagement during a regular news briefing on Friday, with Srivastava saying these issues were spelt out in Singh’s statements in both Houses.

“It will be a long-drawn process and should hopefully be followed by de-escalation and de-induction. There should be some clarity on timelines after the next round of military talks. As long as disengagement is successful, time is not of essence,” said Bhatia.

The current disengagement involves pulling back troops deployed eyeball-to-eyeball on the Finger 4 ridgeline at heights of almost 18,000 feet as well as withdrawing soldiers holding positions on the Kailash range on the south bank.

Addressing a press confer questioning ence, Gandhi said Indian troops will now be stationed at Finger 3 while Finger 4 used to Indian territory.

“The assertion that Indian territory is up to Finger 4 is categorically false. The territory of India is as depicted by the map of India and includes more than 43,000sq km currently under illegal occupation of China since 1962,” the defence ministry said.

Before PLA grabbed positions on Finger 4, the Indian Army would patrol right up to Finger 8 that New Delhi considers within Indian territory. The new positions held by the PLA curtailed the scope of Indian patrols. Fingers 4 and 8 are 8km apart. The Indian claim line in this sector extends to Finger 8, while the Chinese claim is up to Finger 4.

Srivastava responded to questions on why India had agreed to a buffer zone in the area between Finger 4 and Finger 8 by saying that the defence ministry’s statement had set the record straight on “wrongly understood information.”

The defence ministry statement said the government had reposed full faith in the armed forces for safeguarding India’s interests and territory in eastern Ladakh.

“Those who doubt the achievements made possible by the sacrifices of our military personnel are actually disrespecting them,” it added.

MUMBAI: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed petitions challenging the e-vote held for winding up six schemes of Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund in December, thus allowing investors to start receiving payouts from next week. The six schemes were frozen on 23 April, when they had a total size of around ₹26,000 crore. They had accumulated cash of ₹9,122 crore as of 15 January, which will now be paid out to investors.

SBI Funds Managmentwas tasked by the Supreme Court to supervise the distribution. Payment will be made by extinguishing proportionate units in the scheme at the prevailing net asset value on the date of processing. “We are pleased that the Hon’ble Supreme Court, in its order dated 12 February 2021 has upheld the results of the e-voting under 18(15)(c) held in December 2020 and confirmed the winding up of 6 schemes,” said a Franklin Templeton MF spokesperson.

“The Hon’ble Supreme Court has appointed SBI Funds Management Pvt. Ltd. as the authorized person under regulation 41 to take next steps on monetization. Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund will provide all assistance to SBI Funds Management to monetize assets.”

All Kyc-compliant investors will receive money in proportion to the cash holding in their scheme. However, investors in schemes with higher cash levels will receive bigger payouts. For instance, investors of Franklin Income Opportunities Fund will not receive any money as the fund still has borrowings to pay off.