Indian, Chinese army officials discuss DBO, Depsang Y disengagement

The local commanders of the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had a meeting on Saturday to resolve the stand-off along the disputed boundary between the two nations at Daulat Beg Oldie and Depsang Y junction areas in eastern Ladakh.

Maj Gen Abhijit Bapat of the Indian Army met the Chinese PLA’s Senior Colonel Haan Rui on the LAC and discussed ways to end the stalemate in the process of disengagement or pulling back troops from the face-off scenes – particularly focusing on the Daulat Beg Oldie and Depsang Y junction, sources in New Delhi said.

The meeting between Maj Gen Bapat and Sr Col Haan followed the talks between senior military commanders of the two nations – Lt Gen Harinder Singh of Indian Army and Maj Gen Liu Lin of the Chinese PLA – on August 2.

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 more-than-90-day-long stand-off in eastern Ladakh.

The “disengagement process”, however, remained stalled for the past three weeks, particularly because the Chinese PLA declined to withdraw troops completely from several areas, including Depsang Y junction, Gogra Post and the northern bank of the Pangong Tso.

Maj Gen Bapat is learnt to have asked Sr Col Haan to withdraw troops from the Depsang Y Junction, where the Chinese PLA had effectively transgressed almost 18 kilometres into the territory of India – in an apparent bid to alter the status quo along the LAC in the area and to deploy its soldiers closer not only to the key Daulat Beg Oldie military base of India but also to a new strategic road linking the base with Leh via Darbuk and Shyok villages.

The Depsang Y Junction had also witnessed a three-week-long stand-off in 2013 following transgression by the Chinese PLA and the Indian Army’s additional deployment in response to it.

The Indian Army did not make public the outcome of the meeting, which started at 11 a.m. and continued till the evening.

Maj Gen Bapat sent a report to Lt Gen Singh on his meeting with the Chinese PLA’s senior colonel. It was later forwarded to the Indian Army headquarters in the national capital. It would be reviewed by a government panel comprising top bureaucrats, diplomats and military and intelligence officials early next week, sources said.