India-China troop disengagement complete, exchange of sweets on Diwali

The nuclear-armed neighbours reached a deal last week on patrolling the frontier to end a four-year military stand-offPatrolling would commence after verification of the disengagement and following talks between commanders on the ground.

New Delhi: The Indian Army and Chinese People’s Liberation Army on Wednesday completed the disengagement process at Depsang and Demchok areas of eastern Ladakh, paving the way for the troops to start the patrolling of the Line of Actual Control soon, sources said here.

Patrolling would commence after verification of the disengagement and following talks between commanders on the ground.

Sources said the tradition of exchanging sweets during festivals will be revived as Indian troops would offer sweets to the PLA soldiers on Thursday to celebrate the Diwali. The practice remained suspended since the flare-up on the LAC – the disputed boundary between the two neighbours.

The disengagement - relocating the troops, weapons, equipment and shelters to a position where they were before April 2020 – took a little more than a week to complete since Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on October 21 said an agreement was finalised following negotiations over the past several weeks and it would lead to a resolution of the issues that arose in 2020.

Sources said patrolling modalities were to be decided by brigade commanders and talks between commanders on the ground would continue.

The two sides have earlier decided to kickstart the patrolling in Depsang and Demchok areas in a mutually coordinated manner to avoid the chances of troops from one side coming in proximity to others. The Indian side planned to launch the patrols by Oct 31.

Because of the harsh nature of the terrain, the troops will use vehicles and also walk up to the patrolling points that they used to go to. India will continue to use the UAVs and other assets for the surveillance of the LAC.

After four years of a tense stand-off including the violent Galwan episode that marked the biggest India-China border crisis since the 1962 war, the two sides were able to achieve a breakthrough on the last of the two friction points at Demchok and Depsang.

The breakthrough paved a way for a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan in Russia where the two leaders endorsed the agreement on patrolling and disengagement along the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

Amidst the developments in eastern Ladakh, the forces are set to launch a tri-service wargame named Exercise Poorvi Prahar in the eastern states from Nov 8. The drill would involve West Bengal and Arunachal Pradesh among others.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh would visit Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday to spend the Diwali with border guarding troops besides taking part in a few other functions.