Chinese troops apprehended five Indians in Chumar area of ladakh, well inside the Indian territory and took them to their side of the border, in perhaps the first such incident along the line of Actual Control (lAC).
The five were handed back to the Indian side by the People’s liberation Army (PlA) troops after the Indian Army authorities sought a flag meeting on the matter and warned that the issue would be raised at a higher level. The Indians along with their cattle were apprehended by the PlA last week and were taken to their camp across the lAC in a bid to stake their claim on the area. The Army Headquarters also said that the detained Indians were not Army porters but civilians.
This came after PM Manmohan Singh signed the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement with China in October seeking to prevent any flare ups between the Armies Defence Minister AK Antony had recently warned that the new border pact does not guarantee that nothing will happen in these areas in future. Chumar has been one of the most active areas on the lAC in terms of transgressions by the Chinese troops.
located 300km from leh, it has always been an area of discomfort for the Chinese troops as this is the only place along the China-India border where they do not have any direct access to the lAC.