Indian troops' patrolling in Ladakh's Demchok sector begins after disengagement with China, Depsang next: Report
Patrolling by Indian troops in the Demchok sector in eastern Ladakh started on Friday.
Patrolling by Indian troops in the Demchok sector in eastern Ladakh started on Friday after the disengagement with China, while patrolling in another friction point of Depsang sector is expected to begin soon, news agency ANI reported citing Indian Army sources.
An Indian Army official announced on Wednesday that troops from both India and China had finished disengagement at the two friction points of Demchok and the Depsang Plains in eastern Ladakh, with patrols expected to resume soon in these areas.
The following day, on Diwali, Indian and Chinese troops exchanged sweets at several border locations along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), including points in eastern Ladakh.
On Thursday, defense minister Rajnath Singh confirmed that the "process of disengagement" of Indian and Chinese forces near the LAC in Ladakh was "almost complete."
The Line of Actual Control separates Chinese and Indian-held territories from Ladakh in the west to Arunachal Pradesh in the east. India and China fought a deadly war over the border in 1962.
Ties between the two countries deteriorated in July 2020 after a military clash killed 20 Indian soldiers and several Chinese troops. That turned into a long-running standoff in the rugged mountainous area, as each side stationed tens of thousands of military personnel backed by artillery, tanks and fighter jets in close confrontation positions.
In October, the two neighbors announced a border accord aimed at ending the standoff, followed by a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China's President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the recent BRICS summit in Russia, their first bilateral meeting in five years.
“Our efforts will be to take the matter beyond disengagement; but for that, we will have to wait a little longer,” Rajnath Singh said.
Chinese defence ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang said Thursday the frontline troops were “making progress in implementing the resolutions in a orderly manner".
The pact called for Indian and Chinese troops to pull back from the last two areas of the border where they were in close positions. After the deadly confrontation in 2020, soldiers were placed in what commanders called “eyeball to eyeball” positions at at least six sites. Most were resolved after previous rounds of military and diplomatic talks as the two nations agreed to the creation of buffer zones.
However, disagreements over pulling back from in the Depsang and Demchok areas lasted until the October 21 agreement.