Vijaita Singh
The Indian Express
April 24, 2013
China has asked the Indian Army to destroy certain fortified positions in the so-called disputed territory in eastern Ladakh in return for the PLA removing its temporary camp in Depsang valley, now at the centre of a military face-off.
Sources said a flag meeting on Tuesday — the second since the Chinese incursion on April 15 — failed after the Chinese side made its demand. The Indian side was not willing to make a commitment, and that led to an impasse, the sources said.
The sources said that Indian fortifications that have come up recently in eastern Ladakh are in an area different from the one where the current faceoff is taking place. No official word was forthcoming on the flag meeting.
Emerging new details of the situation in the Depsang valley show that the standoff was triggered by a series of five transgressions by troops of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on April 15, including a border crossing by a Chinese military helicopter. India on Tuesday described the situation as being “face to face”, but expressed hope of a peaceful resolution.
Sources said that hours before Chinese troops pitched three tents in the valley on April 15, a chopper was seen overhead, possibly flying in support of the soldiers. Officials said Tuesday that Chinese troops were at Raki Nala, 10 km inside India’s perception of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The sources said that on the night of April 15, a group of Chinese soldiers engaged Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel for a few hours before retreating. Another group of soldiers, however, used the distraction to put up three tents on disputed territory about three kilometres away.
The ITBP discovered these tents only the next morning. Around 30 Chinese soldiers armed with light machine guns are said to be present in the tents. The nearest ITBP camp is at Burste, 20 km away.
Following the discovery — the first occasion since 1986 when Chinese troops had set up a camp on disputed territory — a flag meeting was convened on April 16. The Chinese, however, refused to retreat, saying they were within their territory. Sources said the April 15 incursion followed an earlier transgression five days earlier.
India on Tuesday said the incident reflected differences over the alignment of the LAC. The official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Syed Akbaruddin, said the standoff was a “localised event” in a sector where perceptions of the LAC differ. “We see this as a face to face situation between (the) border forces,” he said.
The spokesperson said India had asked China to maintain status quo as it was before the incursion.
A senior official described the five transgressions of April 15: “One was by a light vehicle, another by a heavy vehicle, two by foot and one by the Chinese helicopter. All these trangressions were in different areas but in the same sector.”
Sources said there were around 400 incursions along the Chinese border last year, 90 per cent of which were in the Ladakh sector. Around 100 incursions have taken place so far this year. “We have increased our vigil in other areas along the border and have asked our men to be alert. The Chinese used to come and ago but this is the first time that they have pitched a tent,” a senior officer said.
India raised the issue with China last week and summoned Ambassador Wei Wei to South Block. The MEA joint secretary who heads the joint working mechanism to deal with boundary issues from the Indian side spoke to his Chinese counterpart and emphasised the need to resolve the issue.
However, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Monday that “China’s frontier troops have been abiding by the… LAC agreed by the two countries… (and) patrolling on China’s side of LAC”.
