India on Friday said there has been some positive development in eastern Ladakh but the situation is not yet normal. “We have not reached there... I would not like to say the situation is normal. There have been some positive steps, but some steps are yet to be taken,” said Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in his weekly media briefing.
Bagchi also referred to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s remarks last month that the disengagement at Patrolling Point 15 in eastern Ladakh was “one problem less” on the border.
By all account, the Central Government has all along maintained that as far as India was concerned several other issues remains unresolved, and it is not satisfied with merely from the disengagement Patrolling Point 15 since there has been no progress yet on resolving the standoff in the Demchok and Depsang regions.
The MEA Spokesperson said India has been maintaining that it expects disengagement followed by de-escalation for the return of normalcy on the border, which could pave the way for normal ties between the two neighbouring countries.
Bagchi’s comments are also in line with Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari’s statement on Tuesday that the benchmark for the situation to become normal in eastern Ladakh would be to return to status quo ante prior to the standoff and a complete withdrawal of troops from all friction points.
Incidentally, China’s Ambassador to India Sun Weidong recently claimed that the situation at the Line of Actual Control is moving towards being “normalised and under control”.
“The current border situation is overall stable,” Sun said. “The phase of emergency response since the Galwan Valley incident has basically come to an end.”
Sun made these comments during an event to mark the 73rd anniversary of the People’s Republic of China at the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi.
“Some steps are required for full normalcy, we have not reached there,” Bagchi said when asked about the Chinese Ambassador’s remarks.
The MEA Spokesperson said India has been maintaining that it expects disengagement followed by de-escalation for the return of normalcy on the border, which could pave the way for normal ties between the two neighbouring countries.
Following the eastern Ladakh standoff, India
has been consistently maintaining that peace along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is key for the overall development of its ties with China and the State of the border will determine the State of the bilateral relationship.