After over two years of facing each other at the Gogra-Hot Springs area (Patrol Point 15), India and China pulled back troops from their positions at this major friction point along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on Monday, even as the disengagement process will only be complete after a formal verification between the two sides on Tuesday morning, News18 has learnt.
Sources in the government told News18 that the troops have moved back to distances ranging up to 2km from their positions so far at PP-15, but an official word is expected on Tuesday after the verification process. It is learnt that no patrol areas have been earmarked so far by the two sides.
Till now, only about a platoon-strength of troops from both sides were facing each other at PP-15.
The majority of troops were withdrawn by India and China from this friction point in the past few months after both sides had verbally agreed to disengage here during the 12th round of India-China military talks last year.
Since the 16th round of India-China military talks on July 17— in which much of the bigger issues between the two sides were resolved—local commanders from both sides had met to discuss the pending issues such as the distances to which the troops would retreat on either side and other modalities of the process.
A source in the government told News18 that it was also talked over that both sides will make efforts to prevent clashes through regular interactions at the local commanders’ level.
The development comes days ahead of the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Uzbekistan to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The disengagement at PP-15 marks a step forward in the resolution of the ongoing military standoff with China. With this, the troops would return to pre-April 2020 positions along the LAC, with disengagement at friction points of PP-17 A (another patrol point in the Gogra-Hot Springs area), both banks of Pangong Tso also getting resolved since last year through talks.
However, the long-standing issues at Depsang Plains and Demchok are yet to be resolved and an overall de-escalation along the LAC remains to be achieved, with both sides deploying nearly 50,000 troops in the Ladakh region since the standoff began in 2020.
India and China last week released a joint statement announcing a consensus had been reached to “disengage in a coordinated and planned way, which is conducive to the peace and tranquillity in the border areas”.
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