Srinagar, Nov 1 (IANS): The Indian and Chinese armies on Friday started coordinated patrolling of Demchok on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh while patrolling in Depsang plains will also start soon, defence sources said.
The coordinated patrolling by the armies of the two countries came after the completion of disengagement in both Demchok and Depsang. This marks the disengagement of all the friction points of the standoff between the two armies that began in May 2020.
Indian and Chinese armies on Thursday exchanged sweets at several border posts along the LAC in Ladakh on Diwali, a day after the two sides completed the disengagement process.
Defence Ministry sources said today that Indian and Chinese Armies exchanged sweets at several border points along LAC on Diwali. The disengagement process between India and China on LAC in Eastern Ladakh was completed on Wednesday after which the two armies started verification of positions and dismantling of infrastructure by each other, the defence sources said.
The sources added that the dismantling of temporary structures in Depsang plains and Demchok is complete and the verification process has taken place almost at all such places on the two sides. The verification was done physically as well as using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Troops on both sides have been withdrawn to be stationed at depth in the rear locations as part of the disengagement process.
The patrolling, which will be undertaken to points hitherto inaccessible since April 2020, will be done by small parties of troops numbering around 10 to 15 soldiers.
India and China had been locked in a military standoff along the LAC in eastern Ladakh following Chinese incursions over four and half years ago. Last week, four days after India announced that an agreement on patrolling in the Depsang Plains and Demchok had been reached with China, Beijing had affirmed the same, saying that "the Chinese and Indian frontier troops are engaged in relevant work, which is going smoothly at the moment".
Sources in the Army had said that following the completion of the verification process, the coordinated patrolling would begin within the next two days. Prior information will be given by both sides so that there is no danger of a face-off.
In Depsang plains, Indian troops will now be able to patrol beyond the ‘bottleneck’ area as the Chinese had been preventing Indian troops from accessing the patrolling points that lay beyond. In Demchok, Indian troops should now be able to get to the patrolling points at Track Junction and Charding Nullah.
However, the large number of Indian troops rushed to Ladakh after the stand-off in 2020 will continue to remain in place till a wider consensus on the border patrolling mechanism is reached with the Chinese. "There are no plans to move back any troops from Ladakh in the near future till an atmosphere of mutual trust and verification is established," a defence source said.
A similar arrangement is also being worked out in Arunachal Pradesh where a stand-off developed in Yangtse, Asaphila and Subansiri Valleys, sources said.