Chinese troops withdraw 1.5 km from LAC; no patrolling in buffer zone for some time
The disengagement process at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh progressed smoothly for the second consecutive day on Tuesday with the Chinese troops withdrawing more than one and a half kilometres at the all the face-of sites.
The complete disengagement, including arriving at modalities to maintain buffer zone to ensure distance between soldiers of the two armies, is expected to take three to four more days.
The military commanders of both sides are expected to review the situation after ten days. The two countries have also agreed to keep all lines of communication at the diplomatic-level open to ensure quick de-escalation at the border.
The two armies were in an eyeball to eyeball confrontation for the last eight weeks at four sites in a frontage of 25 to 30 km in Eastern Ladakh. The disengagement began on Monday after talks between National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday to ensure peace at the earliest.
As of now, the pullback is in full swing at the Galwan valley, which saw a bloody clash on June 15, Hot Springs and Gogra, sources said here on Tuesday adding the complete withdrawal by both the armies is expected to be completed at the three locations in a few days.
The Chinese also started dismantling temporary structures, including tents and bunkers, at the Pangong Tso (lake), signaling their intent to abide by the agreement to pull back from all the face-off sites in a gradual manner. This agreement was arrived at between the two Corps Commanders in three rounds of talks at the LAC on June 6, 22 and 30.
Officials said under the mutual disengagement, both sides will disengage and move back by 1-1.5 km from the friction points. Thereafter, the two Corps Commanders are likely to meet again to hold further talks after the disengagement process is completed, they said.
They also said with the Chinese retreating, the Indian troops too have withdrawn an equal distance in all friction zones and the area in between is a buffer zone meant to separate the soldiers of both sides. A future decision on patrolling in the region will be taken after the next round of military talks, sources said.
The buffer zone was now under electronic surveillance through drones and satellites. There will be no patrolling by the Armies of either side within the Buffer zone.
On Sunday, Doval and Yi spoke on the phone for two hours. According to an official statement, the two agreed that “it was necessary to ensure at the earliest complete disengagement of the troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and de-escalation from India-China border areas for full restoration of peace and tranquility”.
“They reaffirmed that both sides should strictly respect and observe the line of actual control and should not take any unilateral action to alter the status quo and work together to avoid any incident in the future that could disturb peace and tranquility in border areas,” said the Government statement.
China said front-line troops are taking “effective measures” and making “progress” to disengage and ease the tensions in the Galwan Valley. “China and India have made progress coming up with effective measures for frontline troops to disengage and de-escalate the border situation at the third commander-level talks between the two militaries on June 30,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said.