To ensure peace along the banks of the Pangong lake in ladakh, where soldiers of India and China got into a scuffle and pelted stones at each other on Tuesday, local commanders of both the countries held flag meeting on Wednesday in Chushul in leh to defuse tension.
China has said it is not aware of the reports of People’s liberation Army (PlA) soldiers entering into Indian territory in ladakh.
The flag meeting or Border Personnel Meeting (BPM) was held twice on Wednesday, once in the morning and later in the afternoon in Chushul, which is located in eastern ladakh. Chushul is one of the five mutually agreed meeting points at the 4,000 km long line of Actual Control (lAC).
The other four points are Daulat Beg Oldie (ladakh) Bum la and Kibithu (Arunachal Pradesh) and Nathu la (Sikkim). The BPM meetings are part of confidence building measures to address issues like transgression and such incidents on the ground and prevent them from escalating into major confrontation.
Sources said the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to maintain peace and tranquility. This assurance came after the soldiers of two armies got into clash at Pangong lake. The fight erupted after the Chinese soldiers twice tried to enter the Indian side in two areas — Finger Four and Finger Five — between 6 am and 9 am.
When the Indian patrol stopped the Chinese soldiers, 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.
“Stating that incidents and issues to ensure strengthening of existing mechanism for maintaining peace and tranquility were discussed,” officials said one-third of the lake is controlled by India and two-thirds by China though each side has claims over the remaining part.
Asked to comment on the incident, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hu Chunying said, “I am not aware of the information,” reports PTI from Beijing.
She said the PlA troops always patrol along the Chinese side of the lAC. “The Chinese side is committed to peace and tranquility of the China-India border,” she said.
“We urge the Indian side to abide by the lAC and relevant conventions between the two sides,” she said.
Of the 135 km long lake, 45 km is with India and 90 km 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.
“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.
Meanwhile, the two armies exchanged sweets on the occasion of India’s Independence Day. Army sources confirmed that “sweets were exchanged between Indian Army and PlA troops in multiple border locations, including in the area of Doklam”.
However, the ceremonial BPM normally held to commemorate national days did not take place. Such ceremonial meetings held on the occasion of Independence Day and Republic Day besides PlA Day (China). Incidentally, China had not invited the Indian Army on the occasion of PlA Day on August 1. These developments came against the backdrop of continuing stand-off at Doklam in Sikkim since June 16.