China obdurate, Doval-led panel to chart out course
Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 3
The all-powerful China Study Group (CSG) headed by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval will meet in a day or two to review the outcome of the talks held on Sunday between Lt General-level Commanders of India and China at Moldo.
Three Terms for status quo ante
Withdrawal of Chinese troops from Finger-4
Removal of new infrastructure in ‘grey areas’, where perception of LAC differs
AdvertisementRestoration of patrolling rights to India
The CSG, which includes the Cabinet Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Service Chiefs and Defence Secretary as its members, will approve the next steps to be taken along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh.
The CSG had met on Thursday to decide the agenda and proposals for Sunday’s meeting. Lt General Harinder Singh, who led the Indian delegation, was asked to convey to the Chinese that the status quo ante as per April 2020 had to be restored along the LAC. The Chinese side was “uncooperative”, sources said. The Chinese stance at the meeting reflected the official line taken by the Chinese ambassador during his recent talk at the Institute of Chinese Studies. The ambassador had said Chinese troops were positioned on their side of the LAC.
The process to disengage troops and pull back war-waging equipment like guns, tanks, rocket launchers and missile launchers has been stalled as the People’s Liberation Army of China has not honoured the disengagement plan. Chinese troops have not moved back from Finger-4 on the north of Pangong Tso, a 135-km glacial lake.
