Ladakh stand-off: India-China flag meeting ‘very soon’

Ajay Banerjee

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 14

In what looks like a move to reduce the tension between the Armies of India and China at Burtse in northern Ladakh, the two sides have agreed to hold a flag meeting to resolve irksome issues that occurred last week in the high plateau of Ladakh.

Troops on either side have ‘stepped back’ by a couple of kms but are in the area in case of a repeat of Saturday’s twin face-off.

The flag meeting of local commanders of the Armies of both sides was proposed today, but it could not materialise. Now the two-sides have agreed to conduct a flag meeting ‘very soon’, said sources on the Indian side, adding that the meeting could take place any time this week depending upon the logistics. The nearest border personnel meeting (BPM) point from Burtse is at Daulat Baig Oldie – a plateau at an altitude of 16,800 feet. 

Sources told The Tribune that “soldiers of either side have ‘stepped back’, but with technological aids (UAV’s and the Long-Range Reconnaissance and Observation System) we can see the People Liberation Army (PLA) of China troops within a few kms of the flashpoint at Burtse”.

The situation has not escalated since Saturday when troops on either side showed banners to each other asking the other side to withdraw. Unfurling banners is part of the 2005 protocol on the border management to prevent gun-totting troops from reacting in the ‘heat of the moment’. The ‘banner showing’ went on for a few hours.

India had ramped up its military presence on seeing a Chinese build-up on the other side.

The recent flare-up was triggered after the PLA had built a watch tower – a kind of fully serviced solar-powered hut at the altitude of 17,000 feet. The Chinese construction was bang on the ‘border patrolling line’. The Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) protested. The hut also had a camera which recorded the movement of Indian troops moving towards DBO and the Karokaram pass.

The ‘border patrolling line’ is a way to address areas where even the alignment of un-demarcated LAC is disputed. The LAC alignment is roughly accepted by both sides in Lakakh but some pockets remain where the ‘border patrolling line’ is the accepted principle. This is an informal un-demarcated line and troops on either side patrol in areas which they perceive as their own. The border patrolling line is the farthest point to which military patrols come from the Chinese side.

The Burtse area, being adjacent to DBO, forms part of huge Depsang plains perceived by India as its own territory. However, the Chinese side have been claiming it to be part of their territory as it gives them a tactical edge over the area, including the air field which was operationalised by the Indian Air Force (IAF) a few years ago. This area was in news in April 2013 when a 21-day stand-off between troops of either side ended after four flag meetings between the two sides. Then the PLA had pitched five tents in the area and claimed that it was a part of their territory.