India – China border disputes

• The disengagement on the south bank of Pangong Tso (lake) will see Indian troops moving to their post in Chushul and Chinese troops to the Moldo garrison.
• In the next phase, additional Indian troops will move further down, around 40 km, to Tara-Rhongo post and Chinese troops to Dorjo, a senior government official told The Hindu.
• The main phase of disengagement on both banks of the lake is expected to begin on Saturday. “We will verify each step by all means, physical as well as electronic. The next priority is Depsang and Gogra-Hot Springs, where the face-off continues,” the official said.
• The official spoke in the background on a day the Defence Ministry said in a statement that the Line of Actual Control was at Finger 8 and not at Finger 4 at Pangong Tso. At the same time, the Ministry said India had not conceded any territory as a result of this agreement.
• In August 2020, Indian troops had taken advantageous positions on the hills on the south bank following which China matched presence, leading to an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation.
• This incident followed China blocking Indian patrols at multiple locations in eastern Ladakh — north Pangong, Gogra-Hot Springs, Galway, Depsang and CNN sector in Demchok — followed by amassing of troops and armaments. The official said the moratorium on patrolling had been recorded in the agreement signed by the military commanders.

India – China Border disputes

• Konchok Stanzin, a councillor from Chushul in Eastern Ladakh, says Chinese infrastructure that could not be seen from border villages earlier is now clearly visible as China continues to hold positions in areas within India’s perception of the Line of Actual Control.

• In an interview to The Hindu, Mr. Stanzin said residents had witnessed a large number of Chinese tents, bunkers and vehicles very close to the border villages in Chushul, Merak and Khakted, in a clear departure from the past.

Pastures cut-off

• Mr. Stanzin said nomads who lived in villages close to Pangong Tso (lake), one of the multiple locations where Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged in a stand-off since April-May 2020, have not been able to access the winter grazing grounds this year due to heavy troop deployment.
• Ladakh was declared a Union Territory without legislature after the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir was downgraded and bifurcated into two Union Territories on August 5, 2019, by Parliament.
• “At Black Top in South Pangong, where in 2018, only a camera existed on the Chinese side, today we regularly see Chinese vehicles and tents. While in other areas where they could reach the top in their vehicles, we cannot even take our horses and porters due to unfavourable terrain,” Mr. Stanzin said. He said there were many spots in the Finger area that had been occupied by the Chinese and if an aerial survey was conducted, it extended up to the upper reaches of Finger 2.
• As reported earlier by The Hindu, China has ingressed about 8 km in the Finger area and Indian troops have not been able to patrol beyond Finger 4 since the last week of April 2020, when China started amassing troops. Earlier, Indian troops could patrol up to Finger 8.
• The other areas where Chinese build-up continues are the Depsang plains, Galway, Gogra-Hot Springs and the south bank of Pangong lake. Mr Stanzin said China had been nibbling away at Indian territory since May 2018.
• “As a strategy, the Chinese encourage their nomads and provide facilities so that they can come with their livestock and mark the territory as their own. On our side, we have to take several clearances, have to show our I-cards, our livestock are counted, even then sometimes we are not permitted,” he said. He had requested the Defence Minister to permit the nomads to go into the Finger area for winter grazing.
• Referring to poor communication facilities, Mr Stanzin said the border villages got only 2G mobile connectivity and power supply from solar panels for not more than two or three hours a day.