NEW DELHI: India pressed China once again to complete the stalled troop disengagement at a face-off site as well as restore status quo ante at Depsang and Demchok in eastern Ladakh during top-level military talks on Sunday.
There was no official word on the outcome of the 13th round of corps commander-level talks but there are indications the two sides could be close to at least completing the stalled troop disengagement at Patrolling Point-15 (PP-15) in the larger Hot Springs-Gogra-Kongka La area in a phased manner.
The talks, led by 14 Corps commander Lt-General P G K Menon and the South Xinjiang Military District chief, began on the Chinese side of the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point at 10.30 am and concluded at 7 pm on Sunday.
Sources said the face-off at PP-15 is “relatively easy to resolve” because the situation is “quite similar” to the earlier one at PP-17A near India’s Gogra post, where the stalled disengagement was completed as per the pact reached during the 12th round of corps commander talks on July 31.
There are only 40-50 rival soldiers each in the face-off situation at PP-15, which is about 30-km to the north of Gogra, but are backed by thousands more in the “immediate depth” areas there.
A fourth “no-patrolling buffer zone” will be created at PP-15 if India and China agree to disengage in the area. The earlier buffer zones, which vary from 3-km to almost 10-km, were established at the face-off sites or “friction points” at PP-14 in Galwan Valley, PP-17A near Gogra and Pangong Tso.
Though officials say the earlier buffer zones were created as per the “lay of the land and the respective claims lines”, there are major concerns that they have largely come up in what India claims to be its territory during the 17-month long military confrontation.
Moreover, China has shown no inclination as yet to resolve the “friction” at the strategically-located Depsang Bulge, a table-top plateau located at an altitude of 16,000-feet, towards Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) and Karakoram Pass in the north.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) since April-May last year has been actively blocking Indian soldiers, around 18-km inside what India considers its own territory in Depsang, from even going to their traditional Patrolling Points-10, 11, 12, 12A and 13 there.
Similarly, the deadlock over the “friction” at the Charding Ninglung Nallah (CNN) track junction in the Demchok sector to the south, where tents have been pitched inside Indian territory, also continues.
Army chief General M M Naravane on Saturday had said if the PLA continues to maintain its forward deployment along the frontier in eastern Ladakh through the second winter, then it will lead to an “Line of Control-like situation” (with Pakistan), though not “an active one” like on the western front.
“We are keeping a close watch on all these developments. But if they (PLA) are there to stay, we are there to stay too. The build-up and infrastructure development on our side are as good as what the PLA has done,” Gen Naravane added.