Disengagement complete at 2 friction points, patrolling next

Further reducing tensions, India and China have completed their scheduled disengagement process at Depsang and Demchok along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

The two sides are now scheduled to exchange sweets to mark Diwali tomorrow. The local commanders will meet at the designated border meeting points along the LAC to exchange the sweets, sources said today.

Verification process complete

• Patrolling will commence soon and the routes and the modalities will be worked out at the brigade commander level, sources in the Army said
• The process of verifying the removal of all temporary structures, tents, vehicles, cameras, sensors and weapons has been completed

The sweets would be exchanged at all border meeting points, the sources said. There are five such points along the 3,488-km LAC. These are Depsang and Spanngur Gap in eastern Ladakh; Nathu La in Sikkim; and Bum La and Kibithoo in Arunachal Pradesh. Before the April 2020 military stand-off, the two sides used to meet on ceremonial occasions.

“Patrolling shall commence soon,” the sources said, adding that the patrolling routes and the modalities would be decided at the brigade commander level. Talks would continue on deciding a schedule for patrolling by troops of either side. The process of verifying the removal of all temporary structures, tents, vehicles, cameras, sensors and weapons had been completed, they said.

The two sides have physically verified that the structures and man-made blockages on the patrolling routes have been removed at Demchok. However, adverse weather prevented the aerial verification of one spot.

These structures and equipment were set up to stop each other’s patrolling routes along the LAC.

The process to remove the temporary structures had started last Wednesday at Demchok and last Thursday at Depsang. The re-opening of the patrolling routes at Depsang and Demchok was announced on October 21.

The sources said patrolling, which was suspended in April 2020, was expected to resume soon. The patrolling would be coordinated in a manner that troops of both sides inform each other before a patrol is launched.

“This means the patrolling will be coordinated and schedules decided in advance,” they said. These coordinated patrols were part of the measures put in place to prevent a face-off at the LAC, the sources said.

The new arrangements are to re-open routes for Indian troops to patrol at patrolling point 10, 11, 12 and 13. These routes go eastwards of “Bottleneck” — the name of a geographical feature — on the 972-sq km Depsang plateau in eastern Ladakh. The present arrangements do not mention resumption of patrolling at any other contentious spot in eastern Ladakh, where disengagement has been done. These are Gogra, Hot Springs, Pangong Tso and Galwan.