NEW DELHI: The local commanders of India and China held a talk to resolve an issue which cropped up after the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops stopped villagers from Demchok taking their cattle for grazing.
“It was a routine thing and was resolved by the local commanders.” Confirmed a source.
The villagers had complained to the Army that they were stopped from taking their cattle to the pastures for grazing in the saddle pass area. Once they were apprised of the development the local commander got in touch with his PLA counterpart to get the matter resolved. There was no clash or standoff sources said.
This is close to Charding Nilong Nallah (CNN) through which the LAC Passes. Also, there are grazing grounds on both sides of CNN. There has been a prolonged standoff at this point as there are few tents pitched in this area by the Chinese and they had not moved back.
Demchok is one of the areas where the standoff between the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA continues. Depsang and Hot Spring are the other two areas where the standoff continues.
As first reported by TNIE, there are more than 50,000 well-equipped soldiers deployed on both sides of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh since the clashes took place at the Finger 4 area on the North Bank of Pangong Tso.
"There also were standoffs at Galwan, Gogra and the North and south Banks of the Pangong Lake from which the troops of both sides have disengaged."
It was Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi, the Northern Army Commander in May month this year who had said, to sort out the 'perceptional differences', the trust which was broken by the Chinese in 2020 has to be rebuilt, he pointed out.
“As far the situation on the LAC is concerned, the situation as of today is stable but it is in a state of heightened alert,” he said.
Talking about possible irritants which could lead to a violent situation he said that to make sure that “there is no irritant that is likely to become a violent situation”, communications between Indian Army troops and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at the lower level have been increased.
“What we have done is firstly at the lower level -- that is the battalion and brigade level -- we have now opened up various channels of communication. We have regular hotline exchanges and we have stopped the system of the body pushes that used to be there earlier and no physical contact is being ensured. Wherever there is an irritant, we immediately call for talks and at the battalion and brigade level, we sit down together and come to an amicable solution,” he said.
The Line of Actual Control remains un-demarcated.