After recent disengagement with Chinese troops, the Indian Army resumed patrolling at one of five key points in the Depsang plains, where access had been restricted since April 2020.
New Delhi: Days after the troops of India and China completed the disengagement process and also the physical verification, the Indian Army on Monday successfully patrolled one of the five patrolling points in the Depsang plains. Ever since April 2020, the Chinese troops have been blocking access to the Indian Army to go for patrolling at the Patrolling Point (PP) 10, 11, 11A, 12 and 13 comprising an area of 952 sqkm in the Depsang areas.
Days after disengament, Indian Army carried out patrol to one of the patrolling points in Depsang today.
The force has already done at Demchok. pic.twitter.com/QO9DJjSVS5
Strategically significant location, Depsang is situated near the Y-Junction, about 20 kilometers from the Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) airfield.
The Chinese troops were sitting at the Y-Junction and blocking the Indian Army soldiers from going beyond the junction point.
The Y-Junction serves as a critical link between the Siachen Glacier and the DBO airfield.
In a post on X, the Fire & Fury Corps also called XIV Corps-based at Leh said: “Following the consensus reached between the Indian and Chinese Side for disengagement and resumption of patrolling in Depsang and Demchok, the Indian Army patrol to one of the patrolling points in Depsang was successfully conducted today. This is yet another positive step towards maintaining peace and tranquility on the LAC.”
It must be noted that the disengagement at Depsang and Demchok was completed on October 30 and the patrolling at Demchok was started the next day but it took time to start at Depsang due to a delay in deciding the modalities of the patrolling.
On Saturday, India’s foreign ministry stated that the “verification patrolling has commenced on mutually agreed terms in Demchok and Depsang.”
It is pertinent to mention here that India announced the breakthrough a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to leave for the BRICS Leaders Summit at Kazan in Russia on October 21. At Kazan, Modi held a bilateral talk with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit.
On October 21, India’s foreign secretary Vikram Misri announced that the "last phase of disengagement was agreed upon between India and China" over patrolling arrangements in the two regions and the troops would return to the positions that existed before the stand-off in 2020.
In June 2020, the troops of both sides had violent faceoffs at the Galwan valley, wherein the two sides suffered several casualties.