Stop construction in PoK: Army to China

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria

Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 29

India has asked China to cease its construction activities in parts of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the Army said on Friday.

This was disclosed in a written statement issued here today by Northern Command spokesperson Colonel SD Goswami.

He, however, said there had been no instances of incursions by Chinese troops into Indian territory while adding that there was no proper demarcation of the Line of Actual Control between the two countries.

“There are areas along the border in Ladakh where India and China have differing perceptions of the Line of Actual Control. With both sides undertaking patrolling as per their perception of the Line of Actual Control, transgressions do occur,” read the statement.

“Regarding construction activities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the government has seen such reports and has conveyed its concerns to China about its activities and asked it to cease such activities,” added Colonel Goswami.

India, it may be stated here, has registered its protest against the $46-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that runs through a part of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

In April 2015, China and Pakistan signed an agreement to build the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor through Gilgit-Baltistan. It will extend up to Gwadar Port in Pakistan and give China access to the Indian Ocean and beyond.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had visited China from April 17 to April 21 to improve ties between the two countries.

In 2011, then General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Northern CommandLt Gen KT Parnaik had said the Army had ample proof of the presence of Chinese troops along the Line of Control between India and Pakistan.

“In fact, a number of times soldiers have spotted Chinese soldiers in bunkers along the Neelam valley in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir near the Gurez sector of north Kashmir,” he had said.

General Parnaik’s statement was substantiated on March 13 this year when Chinese troops and their senior officers were spotted at forward posts along the Line of Control on the Pakistani side opposite the Nowgam sector in north Kashmir.

In December last year, Northern Command chief Lt Gen DS Hooda had visited China to fine-tune Line of Actual Control channels.

While Pakistan and China have been working expeditiously to complete the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, at least 70 border roads in Jammu and Kashmir remain incomplete.

These roads, a majority of them in the strategic Ladakh region, were sanctioned in the last five years.