JOIN USTension ran high along the India-China de facto boundary at Burtse in Ladakh, after soldiers of the Indian Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) recently demolished a makeshift hut set up by troops of the neighbouring country.
India deployed additional troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China after about 90 soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) took position near the de facto boundary.
Though the Indian government and the Army did not officially confirm the incident, sources said that efforts to resolve the situation made progress.
The Indian Army and the PLA are learnt to be in touch with each other to prevent the situation from turning into a long standoff.
The scene of the incident is close to Depsang Bulge where Indian and Chinese troops were engaged in a three-week standoff in April-May 2013. It is also not very far from Chumar, the scene of September 2014 face-off between the border guards of the two countries.
Though the previous stand-offs were triggered by incursion by Chinese soldiers into territories claimed by India, officials declined to clarify what led to the latest situation.
Sources said the patrolling soldiers of the Indian Army and ITBP personnel noticed some structures, including a hut, erected by the PLA troops along the LAC and demolished those on Friday. The PLA responded by deploying around 90 soldiers. The Indian Army and ITBP, too, sent additional troops to the area.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to visit some of the forward posts of the ITBP along the LAC next week. The incident took place shortly after an expert of a state-run think-tank in China wrote an article in a newspaper accusing New Delhi of playing the South China Sea card as a move to force Beijing to make ‘compromises’ on the boundary dispute.