Indian Army makes govt reject China's Pangong Tso pullback terms

With the Indian Army putting its foot down, New Delhi has finally declined to pull back its troops further away from the “Finger 4” on the northern bank of the Pangong Tso (lake), although the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has set it as a condition for its withdrawal from the territory of India.

The Indian Army early last month withdrew troops nearly 1.5 kilometers away from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Galwan Valley after the Chinese PLA did the same to create a “buffer zone” in order to avert a repeat of the June 15 violent face-off. It, however, rejected a similar proposal put forward by the communist country’s military recently for resolving the stand-off on the northern bank of the Pangong Tso.

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The proposal was mooted by Maj Gen Liu Lin of the Chinese PLA during his latest meeting with his counterpart Lt Gen Harinder Singh, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 14 Corps of the Indian Army, on August 2. A panel comprising top bureaucrats and the military and intelligence officials of the Government of India discussed the proposal during a meeting in New Delhi on August 4.

The top brass of the Indian Army “strongly recommended” that the Chinese PLA’s proposal should be rejected. The implementation of the proposal would require the Indian Army to vacate a critical post – named after the 1962 India-China war hero Maj Dhan Singh Thapa – near the “Finger 3” and would thus, give an edge to the Chinese Army. It would also require the PLA to pull back troops from its current position near “Finger 5”, but the communist country’s soldiers would still continue to hold a large chunk of the territory claimed by India, sources told DH.

The senior diplomats involved in New Delhi’s engagements with Beijing for resolving the stand-off also argued that accepting the Chinese PLA’s proposal on the bank of the Pangong Tso would turn the understanding reached specifically for Galwan Valley into a precedence. It would also lend credibility to China’s claim on the entire northern bank of the lake and would be tantamount to giving in to the aggressive moves made by the communist country to unilaterally change the status quo in the area and to occupy territory of India.

The “political leadership” in New Delhi finally accepted the views of the senior diplomats and the military officials and decided against accepting the proposal put forward by Beijing, sources in New Delhi said.

The government drew flak from analysts after it got the Indian Army pull back troops 1.5 kilometers away from the LAC in Galwan Valley and create a “buffer zone” with moratorium on patrolling – even after rejecting the “exaggerated and untenable” territorial claim by China.

The Indian Army and the Chinese PLA early last month mutually agreed on a process of “disengagement” or phased withdrawal of the front-line troops to resolve the stand-off in eastern Ladakh. It remained stalled for the past three weeks, particularly because the Chinese PLA declined to withdraw troops completely from several areas.

The PLA thinned out troops from the “Finger 4” on the northern bank of the Pangong Tso (lake). It, however, did not restore the status quo ante and held on to the area between “Finger 5” and “Finger 8” – an eight-kilometre-long stretch it took over after its stand-off with the Indian Army started in early May. The Indian Army is currently holding on to its position between “Finger 2” and “Finger 3”.

The spurs of the mountain range on the northern bank of the Pangong Tso just towards the lake like the ‘fingers’ of the palm, with the “Finger 1” at the western end and the “Finger 8” at the eastern end. China claims that the LAC, after cutting through the Pangong Tso, goes through the “Finger 4”. India, on the other hand, claims that the line goes through the “Finger 8”.

The Indian Army earlier regularly sent patrols from its Maj Dhan Singh Thapa post near “Finger 3” all the way up to “Finger 8”.

But the Indian and Chinese soldiers had a scuffle near “Finger 4” on May 5. The PLA later built bunkers and observation posts and deployed additional troops in the area, thus, denying access to the Indian Army to its earlier patrolling limit – the “Finger 8”. The Indian Army too deployed additional troops in response to the PLA build-up and the stand-off started and spread to other areas along the LAC – the de facto boundary between the two nations.

That China dug in its heels in the ‘finger’ areas on the bank of the Pangong Tso was evident when its envoy to India, Sun Weidong, recently asserted the communist country’s claim on the entire stretch. “On the northern bank of Pangong Lake, China's traditional customary boundary line is in accordance with the LAC. There is no such (thing) as China expanded its territorial claim,” Sun said, while responding to a question during a webinar hosted by Institute of Chinese Studies in New Delhi on July 30.