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Parts of Rezang-La, Kibithoo battlefields open to visitors

Tourists and military-history aficionados will now be able to see for themselves the locations where Indian armed forces have fought battles in the past. The Ministry of Defence will launch the project tomorrow to mark Army Day and allow access...
Modalities are being worked out to allow trekkers to climb one of the hills in Kargil, Batalik or Drass to see for themselves how and where pitched battles were fought with Pakistan during the Kargil War. PTI
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Tourists and military-history aficionados will now be able to see for themselves the locations where Indian armed forces have fought battles in the past.

The Ministry of Defence will launch the project tomorrow to mark Army Day and allow access to some areas which are, so far, not accessible. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will launch a portal on these battlegrounds. It will have all information to aid travel to these locations and details of memorials where people can pay their respects or homage.

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The MoD will allow access to areas where battles were fought with China in 1962 like Kibithoo and Bum-La in Arunachal Pradesh and Rezang-La and Pangong Tso in Ladakh. On the list of battlegrounds to be opened are locations of recent clash with China at Galwan where the two armies clashed in June 2020.

The clash at Cho-La in Sikkim 1967, where the Chinese lost some 400 men in the clash. The location of stand-off at Doklam in Eastern Sikkim in 2017 is among the sites that people will be allowed to visit.

Modalities are being worked out to allow trekkers to climb one of the hills in Kargil, Batalik or Drass to see for themselves how and where pitched battles were fought with Pakistan along the Line of Control during the Kargil conflict (May-July 1999). There is massive war memorial at Drass to mark the conflict, the new project will go beyond that.

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Access to all sites of battles on the Siachen Glacier would be difficult as the altitude is in excess of 20,000 feet making it impossible for anybody other than trained mountaineers to climb. However, some of the key battles of the 1971 would also be opened, including along the Indo-Pakistan border in Punjab and Rajasthan. Access to the famous battle at Laungewala was allowed some time back.

In Arunachal Pradesh, the Army has set up project for tourism in Zemithang. Located west of Tawang, Zemithang, is last village of India near the LAC with China, the 14 Dalai Lama entered India from this route in 1959.

Besides the access to battlefield access will be opened in phases to forward areas including the Lipulekh Pass through which the Mansarovar yatra to Mount Kailash in Tibet used to be conducted.

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