Only a fortnight after their three-week stand-off at Daulat Beg Oldi ended, Chinese troopers have reportedly had a fresh bout of tiff with Indian soldiers, this time stopping their patrols at the Siri Jap area of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, where China has built a road 5 km inside the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
According to reports reaching here from Leh, the fresh trouble took place at Siri Jap, also known as Finger-VIII, on May 17 two days ahead of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to New Delhi for the high-profile meeting with PM Manmohan Singh.
According to sources, this brush with the Chinese troopers had led to the Leh-based 14 Corps headquarters stopping all patrols, including the one that was to be sent to Debsang bulge, where “an eye-to-eye” stand-off began on April 15 and ended on May 6 only after much haggling by both sides. The Army headquarters here, though, has said it was “not true.”
According to the sources, an Indian patrol was stopped by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troopers at Siri Jap. The PLA reportedly warned the Indian patrol to return to their base, which was complied, they said.
Following the incident, the 14 Corps headquarters suspended all patrols in the Ladakh region, they said.