Army Chief General Bipin Rawat is on a three-day visit, starting Sunday, to forward areas of ladakh and parts of Kashmir to take stock of operational preparedness of the troops deployed on the line of Actual Control(lAC) with China. His visit comes days after armies of two countries were engaged in stone pelting and scuffle on August 15 when the Chinese troops transgressed into Pangong lake in ladakh.
In an effort to ensure peace at the site, the local commanders of Indian and Chinese armies held a flag meeting the next day in Chushul in eastern ladakh and reiterated their commitment to have peace and tranquility at the lAC.
On Rawat's tour of forward areas, sources said here, operational commanders will brief him about the ground situation on the lAC especially in ladakh and measures taken to prevent transgressions by the Chinese army into Indian territory. The Chief will also take part in a ceremony in leh on Monday where President Ramnath Kovind will present colours to an Army unit.
The clash on Pangong lake ensued after the Chinese soldiers tried to enter the Indian side in two areas-Finger Four and Finger Five- twice between six and nine am. The Indian patrol stopped the Chinese and they started pelting stones. The Indian team formed a human chain and carried out a banner drill asking the Chinese to go back to their positions. The drill is part of mutually agreed process to address such issues on the lAC, they said.
One-third of the lake is controlled by India and two-thirds by China though each side has claims over the remaining part. Of the 135km long lake, 45kms is with India and 90 kms with China. The mountains sloping on the sides of the river form finger like structures.
As per this, India holds till 4th finger but claims till the 8th finger, while China holds from 8th finger beyond but claims till 4th finger. So to enforce their claims each side regularly patrols till their claim area, sources said. "We normally stop them at 5th finger area. That is when scuffles happen. Stone pelting is not unusual. It happens once in a while," they said.
On flag meetings also known as Border Personnel Meeting(BPM), they said these interactions are part of confidence building measures mutually agreed by the two countries to address issues like transgressions at the lAC and such incidents on ground and prevent them from escalating into a major confrontation.
Chushul is one of the five mutually agreed meeting points and other four points are Daulat Beg Oldie(ladakh),Bum la and Kibithu(Arunachal Pradesh) and Nathu la(Sikkim). Meanwhile, the stand-off between Chinese and Indian troops at Doklam in Sikkim in the east continues after it started on June 16. While China insists that India should first withdraw its army before any talks, India is stressing on mutual pull back by both sides for having parleys.