Indian, Chinese troops share sweets along LAC on Diwali IAF Chief celebrates festival with personnel in Ladakh

Indian Army personnel exchanged sweets with their Chinese counterparts on Diwali at multiple locations along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Separately, senior commanders of the Indian Air Force (IAF), including Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, were in Ladakh to celebrate the festival with airmen and Army personnel. As winter sets in, roads to Ladakh will soon be closed due to snowfall, and IAF aircraft will play a crucial role in providing logistical support.

Army sources confirmed that the exchange of sweets took place at all traditional border meeting points between the two armies along the LAC. “This is a routine affair as part of the engagements with China to maintain peace and tranquillity along the borders,” said a source. There are two border meeting points each in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, and one in Sikkim.

A similar exchange took place on Diwali last year, which fell on October 31. That gesture came just ten days after both sides, on October 21, 2024, announced the resolution of the issue of patrolling along the LAC. A “patrolling arrangement” had been worked out at Depsang and Demchok, leading to disengagement from close confrontation points.

Since then, progress has been made in diplomatic talks. In August, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, under the framework of the Special Representatives dialogue, agreed on “five concrete outcomes” that included setting up an expert group under the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) to explore an “early harvest in boundary delimitation”.

Doval and Wang also agreed on the need to take a political perspective of the overall bilateral relationship while seeking a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable framework for settling the boundary question, in line with the 2005 agreement on political parameters and guiding principles. They also decided to establish a working group under the WMCC to advance effective border management and maintain peace and tranquillity along the frontier.

On the occasion of Diwali, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh visited the Ladakh sector and interacted with IAF and Army personnel deployed in the region. “He commended them for their dedication and professionalism in safeguarding the nation’s frontiers under challenging high-altitude conditions and extended festive greetings to all,” the IAF said.

Air Marshal Awadhesh Kumar Bharti, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff, also visited the Siachen Glacier to celebrate Diwali with troops guarding the border. Air Marshal Bharti earlier served as Director General Air Operations during Operation Sindoor.