The Indian Army has recently conducted successful patrolling of one of the patrolling points in the Depsang area of eastern Ladakh—the first such exercise since the aggressive melee in 2020 that led to a four-year standoff.
Leh-based Fire and Fury Corps had in a tweet, said, "Following the consensus reached between the Indian and Chinese sides for disengagement and resumption of patrolling in Depsang and Demchok, the Indian Army patrol to one of the patrolling points in Depsang was successfully conducted today. This is yet another positive step towards maintaining peace and tranquility on the LAC."
According to a report in The Print, a group of about 10 to 12 Indian soldiers, accompanied by ponies, crossed over to the bottleneck area that opens to the Depsang Plains and patrolled up to Patrolling Point 10. They covered a distance of about five kilometres.
India can carry out patrols up to points 10, 11, 11A, 12, and 13 in the area.
However, according to the report, it was decided that the Indian Army would patrol only one or two points in an attempt to take it slow and build trust with each other. The areas and patrolling status are expected to be gradually moved back to pre-April 2020 level.
Ministry of external affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had earlier said that following the disengagement agreement with China, the verification patrolling began on mutually agreed terms in both Demchok and Depsang.