Withdrawal of Chinese troops in Hot Springs complete; Pull back continues in other areas

Indian and Chinese armies continued with the troop withdrawal process on Wednesday clearing patrol point-15 – another friction zone in eastern Ladakh that was on the knife-edge during the nine-week long stand-off in India’s northernmost union territory.

The disengagement has been completed at PP-15 (Gogra Post/Hot Spring areas) where the troops have moved back by nearly two km from the line of actual control, government sources said. At PP-17 and PP-17A in the same area, it would take another day or two to finish the task.

PP-15 is the second friction point that was cleared by the two armies in the last two days after PP-14 that witnessed a bloody battle on June 15 between the troops leading to the death of 20 Indian soldiers and a significant number of Chinese troops. Satellite images also confirm the clearance.

On the northen banks of the Pangong Tso where the Chinese troops fortified their positions, sources said some more thinning of the People’s Liberation Army troops had taken place at Finger 4 up to which the Indian troops are restricted at the moment, but there is no sign of a definitive pull back yet.

Traditionally on the northern banks of the 135 km long lake, Indian troops used to patrol upto Finger 8, which is 8 km east of Finger 4.

Sources said the two armies were exploring yet another meeting of the senior military commanders to complete the verification process and decide on the future course of action. But no time schedule has been drawn yet.

The joint verification will assess the implementation of the disengagement process once the dismantling of temporary infrastructure and withdrawal of troops are completed. Besides the talks would also finalise the modalities for restoring normalcy and bringing back peace and tranquillity along the LAC after the disengagement exercise is completed.

At PP-14 and PP-15, a buffer zone has been created which no army is patrolling at the moment. Indian Army sources insist it was only a temporary measure necessary to avoid recurrence of any inadvertent clash between the troops.

“This is only a temporary step which would be in place till the disengagement process is complete. No permanent buffer zone has been created,” said an Army officer.

Sources said Indian Army would maintain its aggressive posturing along the LAC till the Chinese side cuts down on its significant build up in the depth areas on their side of the LAC.

Both sides brought in thousands of additional troops and weaponry including tanks and artillery guns to their rear bases as part of a build up following the face-off that began on May 5, even though increased Chinese presence along the LAC was noticed by mid-April.