The Tribune Exclusive : Talks on restoring patrols at Depsang hit roadblock

The military talks between India and China to work out the modalities of patrols have reached a deadlock over the “extent and routes of patrolling” at Depsang along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

Beijing’s reservations

• Sources said the Chinese side had raised two issues. It had reservations about the Indian Army going full extent on the routes of patrolling points 10 and 11
• Secondly, it also had reservations about the extent (distance) of patrol on patrolling points 11A, 12 and 13

Sources said the Chinese military negotiators, tasked with working out the “patrolling arrangements”, had been “dragging their feet” on coordinating the schedule of Indian Army patrols at points patrolled in the pre-April 2020 period. The Chinese side has also expressed reservations over the extent of patrolling.

The brigade commander-level officers of either side have been tasked with working out the modalities after “patrolling arrangements” for reopening of patrolling routes at Depsang and Demchok were announced on October 21 by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.

The two sides are negotiating the modalities of patrols at patrolling points (PPs) 10, 11, 11-A, 12 and 13 on the eastern edge of Depsang.

The sources said the Chinese side had raised two issues. Firstly, it had reservations about the Indian Army going full extent on the PPs 10 and 11 routes. Secondly, it had reservations about the extent (distance) of patrol on PPs 11A, 12 and 13.

Last evening, the Indian Army had stated that it had successfully conducted a patrol to one of the points at Depsang. Yesterday’s patrol was to one of the latter three routes, the sources said, but did not specify which one.

Patrolling is being coordinated in a manner that troops of both sides inform each other before a patrol party is launched. The coordination is part of the measures to prevent a face-off.

The LAC — the de facto border between the two neighbours — is undemarcated on the ground. Claims of India and China overlap at several places. All patrolling points east of Depsang are in areas were the claims overlap. India sticks to the claim line of 1959, while China goes by its own claim line of 1962.

PPs 10 and 11 both culminate at separate mountain tops that overlook the new G695 highway made by China in Aksai Chin. In other areas — PPs 11-A, 12 and 13 — the extent of patrols is being questioned by Beijing.

The extent and route of patrolling — referred to in military terms as “limit of patrolling” — have been decided by the China Study Group (CSG).

The CSG was set up in 1975 and is now headed by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. It is an advisory body and guides the government on policies related to China.

The last time an Indian patrol went east of “bottleneck” was in January 2020.

The Depsang plateau is militarily crucial for both sides. East of it lies the Aksai Chin — the north-western edge of Ladakh illegally occupied by China since the 1950s.

After the modalities were decided at the brigade commander level, the first patrol was conducted at Demchok last week.

The “patrolling arrangements” do not mention resumption of patrolling at other contentious spots in eastern Ladakh where disengagement has been done. These are Gogra, Hot Springs, Pangong Tso and Galwan.