Chinese soldiers transgress again

This time in Barahoti area of U'khand

Days before National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s visit to Beijing to discuss truce at the Sino-Indian border, border guarding troops from China’s People’s Liberation Army once again “transgressed” into Barahoti region of Uttarakhand.

The intrusion occurred on July 25 at about 9 am. Chinese soldiers came 800 m - 1 km inside of Indian territory and asked local shepherds to leave, sources said. The PLA soldiers left after a couple of hours.

“Transgressions do occur, which are due to differing perceptions of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China,” a senior Army official said, reacting to the media reports of the Chinese transgression.

Barahoti in the Chamoli district reported such instances of Chinese transgression in the past too. There were two incidents about a year ago.

The area falls within the least contentious middle-sector of the 4057 km long disputed boundary between China and India.

The latest incident of transgression comes at a time when the Sikkim sector of the LAC is witnessing a face-off between troops from India and China.

One of the purposes of Doval’s July 27-28 visit to China was to discuss with his Chinese counterpart a way to identify the step forward to break the logjam on the face-off at the Doka La near India-China-Bhutan tri-junction on the eastern front.

The face-off is continuing since June 16 on the construction of a road inside Bhutan. If constructed the road would bring the Chinese troops at a strategically advantageous location.

Even though transgressions were common in the Ladakh and North East, such incidents were rarely reported from the middle sector in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh in the past. The trend seems to have changed now.

In 1958, India and China listed Barahoti, an 80-sq-km sloping pasture, as a disputed area where neither side would send their troops.

Four years later during the Sino-Indian war, the PLA did not enter the 545-km middle sector. The Chinese troops focussed their attention on the Western (Ladakh) and Eastern (Arunachal Pradesh) sectors.

However, after the 1962 war, troops from Indo-Tibetan Border Force patrolled the area with weapons in a non-combative manner, under which the barrel of the gun is positioned downward.

Subsequently, in June 2000 it was decided that ITBP troops would not be carrying arms to three posts -- Barahoti, Kauril and Shipki in Himachal Pradesh.