Having arrived at an agreement to end the standoff along the Line of Actual Control, troops of both India and China have started pulling back their troops from two friction points in eastern Ladakh. Both the countries recently agreed to resume joint patrolling along LAC.
According to reports, India has started pulling back its equipment in two friction areas – Demchok and Depsang – and they are being repositioned to rear locations, ANI reported. Demchok and Depsang were the last two friction areas along LAC. “The withdrawals are mutual. Patrolling may take some time to resume because it will depend on the removal of the structures which came up since the April 2020 clashes,” an official told The New Indian Express.
Addressing at an event on Thursday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh highlighted the pact reached between India and China and called it a “significant development”. "India and China have been involved in talks both at military and diplomatic levels to resolve differences in certain areas along the LAC. Pursuant to the talks, a broad consensus has been achieved to restore the ground situation based on the principle of equal and mutual security," PTI reported quoting Singh.
Terming the disengagement as the power of dialogue, Singh said, “The consensus achieved includes patrolling and grazing (cattle) in traditional areas. This is the power of engaging in continuous dialogue because sooner or later, solutions will emerge.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit recently and the former underscored the importance of properly handling differences and disputes during the meeting that lasted for about 50 minutes.
On Monday, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said, “As a result of discussions that have taken place over the past several weeks, Indian and Chinese diplomatic and military negotiators have been in close contact with each other in a variety of forums and, as a result of these discussions, an agreement has been arrived at on patrolling arrangements at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the India-China border area, leading to disengagement and a resolution of issues that had risen in these areas in 2020.”
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External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said, “We reached an agreement on patrolling and with that the disengagement that we have gone back to where the situation was in 2020 and we can say with that the disengagement process with China has been completed.”
The development has taken place more than four years after the brutal clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers in 2020, which resulted in the deaths of more than 20 soldiers on both sides. Over 1 lakh troops were deployed by both sides on the borders following the clashes.