The Congress on Wednesday sought more clarity on the agreement with China on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. In a two-page letter, Congress communication in-charge Jairam Ramesh said that the Centre must take the people of India into confidence and answer whether the Indian troops will now be able to patrol up to India's claim line in Depsang to five patrolling points past the Bottleneck junction as they were able to earlier.
"Will our troops be able to reach the three patrolling points in Demchok that have remained out of bounds for more than four years? Will our soldiers continue to be restricted to Finger 3 in Pangong Tso when earlier they could go as far as Finger 8?" he asked.
The Congress also asked whether India's patrols are now permitted to access the three patrolling points in the Gogra-Hot Springs area that they could earlier go up to. "Will Indian graziers once again be given the right to access traditional grazing grounds in Helmet Top, Mukpa Re, Rezang La, Rinchen La, Table Top and Gurung Hill in Chushul?"
Are the "buffer zones" that our government ceded to the Chinese, which included the site of a memorial in Rezang La to war hero and posthumous Param Vir Chakra awardee Major Shaitan Singh, now a thing of the past?"
On Monday, India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri announced that New Delhi had reached an agreement with China on patrolling along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. A day later, China also confirmed that an agreement had been made with India to end the standoff between the two armies in eastern Ladakh.
"Over a recent period of time, China and India have kept close communication through diplomatic and military channels on issues related to the China-India border,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a media briefing. Now, the two sides have reached a resolution on the “relevant matters,” he said.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said Indian and Chinese soldiers will be able to resume patrolling in the way they had been doing before the border face-off began and the disengagement process with China has been completed. Vikram Misri said the agreement was firmed up following negotiations by the two sides over the last several weeks and that it will lead to a resolution of the issues that had arisen in 2020.
"Over the last several weeks, Indian and Chinese diplomatic and military negotiators have been in close contact with each other in a variety of forums," the foreign secretary said. "As a result of these discussions, agreement has been arrived at patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas, leading to disengagement and a resolution of the issues that had arisen in these areas in 2020," Misri added.
The standoff began with the Chinese military moving thousands of its troops which were conducting exercises to the areas of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) prompting a strong response from Indian army. After prolonged military and diplomatic talks the two sides have agreed to disengage from four points, namely the Galwan Valley, the Pangong Lake, Hot Springs, and Gogra in eastern Ladakh but the talks prolonged as India pressed for similar disengagement in Depsang and Demchok.
It is understood that the agreement will facilitate patrolling in Depsang and Demchok areas as there were major unresolved issues in these two areas. Last month, both India and China announced that the “front-line armies of the two countries have realised disengagement in four areas in the Western sector of the China-India border, including the Galwan Valley”, the scene of violent clashes in June 2020 breaking over four decades of peace along the 3,488 km long LAC. The agreement to disengage from all points in Eastern Ladakh was expected to facilitate normalisation of frosen relations between the two countries.
(With inputs from PTI)