At 14-hr meet with China, India conveys ‘lack of trust’

India has conveyed its “lack of trust” on local Chinese commanders deployed in eastern Ladakh, to the senior leadership of the People’s Liberation Army in a marathon meeting in which the two countries agreed upon an “expeditious, phased and stepwise de-escalation of troops as a priority” along the Line of Actual Control, the disputed border between the two neighbours.

Because of the trust factor, it has now been decided that each of the withdrawal steps undertaken by either side would have to be cross-checked and vetted by senior officers of the two armies before both sides proceed to the next step.

This was conveyed to the Chinese military at a crucial meeting at Chushul between Lt Gen Harinder Singh, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Leh-based 14 Corps and Maj Gen Liu Lin, Commander, South Xinjiang Military Region continued for nearly 14 hours and ended at half-past midnight on Tuesday. It was the third such meeting in the last month.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday is expected to fly to Leh for an on-the-spot appraisal by Lt Gen Singh and other senior officials. Accompanied by the Army Chief Gen M M Naravane, Singh would also interact with the troops and commanders besides visiting the Military Hospital at Leh where some of the injured soldiers are recuperating.

For nearly two months, the troops from India and China are locked in a tense face-off at multiple locations in eastern Ladakh including Galwan Valley, Pangong Tso and Depsang Bulge. The face-off led to a violent clash on June 15 in which 20 Indian soldiers including their commanding officer and a significant number of Indian troops were killed.

The two sides discussed a peaceful de-escalation plan three times but the troop presence in east Ladakh has not thinned so far. Both increased their men, firepower, and wherewithal on either side of the LAC.

While the June 6 disengagement plan remains an accepted road map for the two armies, sources said more meetings are expected at the military and at the diplomatic level, in future, to arrive at mutually agreeable solutions and to ensure peace and tranquility along the LAC as per bilateral agreements and protocols.

“Both sides have emphasised the need for an expeditious, phased and stepwise de-escalation as a priority,” sources said.

The mutual concurrence is in keeping with the agreement between the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart during their conversation on June 17 that the overall situation would be handled in a responsible manner, and both sides would implement the disengagement understanding of June 6 sincerely.

In the meeting, Lt Gen Singh and Maj Gen Liu discussed threadbare each of the friction points in the Galwan valley like Patrol Point-14, PP-15, PP-17 and 17A as well as heavy PLA troop presence in the Finger Complex in the northern banks of the Pangong Tso and Depsang Bulge north of Galwan.

It has been decided that the disengagement process at each sector will have a time element so that senior commanders can cross-check and verify. This would be a time consuming and long-drawn affair, sources said.