India reaffirms its stand that LAC must be ‘strictly respected’
With withdrawal by both the Armies at the border in Ladakh proceeding without a hitch for the fourth day, India on Thursday reaffirmed its stand that the Line of Actual Control (LAC) must be “strictly respected” and neither side should take any unilateral action to alter it. It also stressed the need for continuing the dialogue process and China also echoed similar sentiments.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said both the countries will hold a new round of commander level dialogue and border issue consultation and co-ordination mechanism meetings. It also said in Beijing that the overall border situation is stable and the border tensions have eased, according to the Global Times, the government mouthpiece of China.
As both the Armies, more or less, completed the pull back from all the four face-off sites in Eastern Ladakh which were on for the past eight weeks besides the bloody skirmish in the Galwan valley on June15, New Delhi also said, “We remain convinced of the need for maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas and the resolution of differences through dialogue, at the same time, we are also strongly committed to ensuring India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Enunciating the country’s position, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said here the diplomatic and military officials of both sides will continue their meetings to take forward the process of disengagement and de-escalation as agreed to by the Special Representatives National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The next meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China border affairs (WMCC) is expected to take place soon.
He also said, “We have also noted that there have been some inaccurate and uninformed comments about the disengagement process and its implications. Let me remind you that in the last few weeks, we have made several statements spelling out categorically the position of the Government on different aspects of the current situation in the Western Sector of India-China border areas.”
“They include our position that recent Chinese claims to the Galwan Valley area are exaggerated and untenable; that the LAC must be strictly respected and observed as this is the basis for peace and tranquility in the border areas; and that neither side should take any unilateral action to alter it. We remain convinced of the need for maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas and the resolution of differences through dialogue, at the same time, we are also strongly committed to ensuring India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.
Giving the sequence of events in the last five days, he said the Special Representatives (SRs) of India and China had a telephone conversation on July 5.
“As we have noted in our press release issued on July 6, the two Special Representatives had a frank and in-depth exchange of views on the recent developments in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas.
During the conversation, the NSA conveyed categorically India’s position on the recent developments along the LAC including in the Galwan valley area. The NSA emphasised in this context that the Indian troops had always taken a very responsible approach towards border management and at the same time, our forces were deeply committed to ensuring India’s sovereignty and security.
During their conversation, the two Special Representatives agreed that peace and tranquility in border areas was essential for the overall development of bilateral relations. In this regard they also shared the view that it was necessary to ensure at the earliest complete disengagement of the troops along the LAC and de-escalation in the India-China border areas for full restoration of peace and tranquility in accordance with the bilateral agreements and protocols. One of the key provisions of these bilateral agreements is the commitment by two sides shall strictly respect and observe the LAC. The two Special Representatives have also agreed that the two sides should work together to avoid any incident in the future that could disturb peace and tranquility in border areas, Srivastava said.
Meanwhile, the two Corps Commanders are likely to meet early next week to review the pace of disengagement from the stand-off sites and from the operational or “depth areas.” These places on both sides of the LAC have seen amassing of additional troops and heavy weaponry for the last two months leading to a volatile situation on the LAC. The two commanders will devise modalities to mutually thin out these additional troops from the operational zone and return to peacetime locations as soon as possible, sources said.