Joint pullback on at Pangong: China
Rajnath likely to speak in Rajya Sabha today
In an apparent breakthrough in nine-month tense military standoff in eastern Ladakh, the Indian and Chinese armies have reportedly started the process of disengagement from the contentious Pangong Tso sector on Wednesday. This was announced by the Chinese defence ministry in Beijing, but there was no response so far from the Indian government.
“The Chinese and Indian frontline troops at the southern and northern banks of the Pangong Tso Lake start synchronised and organised disengagement from February 10,” said Senior Colonel Wu Qian, the spokesperson of the Chinese defence ministry, in a written statement on Wednesday. This move is in accordance with the consensus reached by both sides at the ninth round of the China-India corps commander-level meeting, the statement said. There has been no formal statement from India so far Wednesday since Parliament is in session, but sources said tanks and armoured vehicles are being moved back from the southern banks of Pangong Tso. There are also reports of small troop disengagement moves from the northern banks of the lake. The disengagement will happen cautiously in a phased manner and each move will be verified.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh is expected to make a statement in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday on the “Present Situation in Eastern Ladakh”, according to a tweet from the defence minister’s office.
The tanks of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Indian Army are placed in close proximity to each other on the southern banks of Pangong Tso in the Chushul sector. This is the area where the Indian Army, in a pre-emptive move in August last year to the surprise of the Chinese side, had occupied the strategic heights which allowed it to dominate the area. The sector also saw the first incident of firing in 45 years at the Line of Actual Control, as
IT IS learnt Indian troops have not been moved back from strategic heights on Wednesday
tensions soared in early September last year.
It is learnt Indian troops have not been moved back from these strategic heights on Wednesday.
“If India cedes its sole bargaining chip -- Kailash Range heights -- before China begins to roll back all its land grabs, it will prove a big mistake,” tweeted strategic analyst Brahma Chellaney.
As per reports, the Chinese soldiers will also move beyond the Finger 8 area on the northern bank of Pangong Tso and Indian troops will be placed between Finger 2 and Finger 3. Indian and Chinese troops had brutally clashed in the area in May 2020, with many soldiers suffering serious injuries.
The Indian and Chinese corps commanders had held the ninth round of talks on January 24, where both sides had “agreed to push for an early disengagement of the frontline troops” in the eastern Ladakh.
Earlier in June, and then again in July, India and China had agreed to mutually move back from the Galwan Valley, Gogra Post, Hot Springs and Pangong Tso. However, it was only in the Galwan Valley that both troops had moved back to some extent. In Pangong Tso, the Chinese Army had then refused to move back from the ridgelines of Finger 4 and the whole of Finger 5 to 8 area, which it had illegally occupied in May. In the Gogra Post and Hot Springs areas too, there was no clarity on China’s disengagement. Besides, in the Depsang plains, Chinese troops had been preventing the Indian Army from conducting its patrolling.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a call from his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau late on Wednesday evening for facilitation of vaccine supplies to Canada following which PM Modi agreed that India would “do its best”. This comes two months after India had issued a demarche to Canada for “unacceptable interference” in India’s internal affairs in response to comments made then by senior Canadian politicians, including Mr Trudeau, on the farmers’ protests. “Was happy to receive a call from my friend @JustinTrudeau. Assured him that India would do its best to facilitate supplies of Covid vaccines sought by Canada. We also agreed to continue collaborating on other important issues like Climate Change and the global economic recovery,” PM Modi tweeted late on Wednesday night.