Army top brass in Leh for India, China talks

Three days prior to the high-level meeting between the military leaders of India and China, some of Indian Army's most experienced officers have reached Ladakh to work out the strategies for the crucial talks amid border tension.

From the Indian side, talks will be led by Lt Gen Harinder Singh, commanding officer of the Leh-based 14 Corps. The venue will be the Chushul-Moldo junction in eastern Ladakh, which is one of the designated meeting points between Indian and Chinese troops.

On Wednesday, Lt Gen Y K Joshi, who heads the Indian Army's Northern Command, also reached Leh to review the situation with Lt Gen Singh and other senior officials.

The inputs from Lt Gen Joshi — a Kargil hero — will be crucial to resolve the month-long border crisis because of his understanding of the terrain and knowledge about the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China.

Lt Gen Joshi preceded Lt Gen Singh in the 14 Corps. He was also India's Defence Attaché in Beijing. Lt Gen Joshi also had two stints at the Directorate of Military Operations in the army headquarters.

The current tension between the Indian Army and the PLA along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh had its origin in China’s unease over the construction of infrastructure by India in the border areas.

Beijing apparently perceived such constructions as a prelude to a military move by New Delhi towards Aksai Chin — a disputed area India claims as its own and accuses China of illegally occupying.

Among the infrastructure under scanner is the strategically vital 255-km Darbuk-Shayok-Daulat Beg Oldie road that can bring Indian troops close to the Aksai Chin area, which is part of Jammu & Kashmir and under illegal occupation of China.

Incidentally, the construction of the road began nearly a decade ago during the UPA era.

The Lt Gen-level meeting between the two armies on Saturday will seek to dispel some of the misconceptions that the Chinese had, and address the ground issues related to Pangong Tso and other sites.

The Pangong lake area had seen several confrontations in the past due to differing perceptions about the LAC between the two neighbours.

There are eight finger-like spurs on the northern bank of the mighty lake. Going by the Chinese perception of the LAC, the disputed boundary runs through Finger 4 on the western side. But according to the Indian Army's perception, the LAC runs through Finger 8. As a result, the Indian Army goes patrolling up to Finger 8 and if a PLA patrol party comes from the other side, confrontation takes place. This was the case this time too.

The picturesque lake lies on the disputed border, with China claiming two-thirds of the 135-km long lake and India, a third.

Besides Pangong Tso, the current face-off also happened at Gogra post and Galwan valley presumably also due to construction of border infrastructure on the Indian side.

At Galwan, which never was a contested area, the Chinese objection is to the construction of a feeder road to the DSDBO road.