New Delhi: Although the Centre on Monday maintained that no concessions were offered to the Chinese to end the east Ladakh face-off, India appears to have agreed to the removal of bunkers built by the Army in Chumar, close to the Line of Actual Control, to facilitate an agreement.
Sources in the security establishment familiar with the negotiations and the local topography told TOI that the 21-day confrontation on Ladakh's desolate Depsang plains ended only after the Army agreed to demolish the bunkers that are close to what India considers its current border. The bunkers are also part of the proactive measures objected to by the Chinese.
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India had to play diplomatic hardball to get China to withdraw its troops. In Beijing, Indian ambassador S Jaishankar impressed on the Chinese that not only was Delhi ready to cancel the tour of foreign minister Salman Khurshid to Beijing, it was also willing to cancel the visit of the Chinese PM Li Keqiang to India. The initiative to take a harder stand was led by defence minister A K Antony, while foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai worked with the army chief to ensure that China understood that India was ready to act tough.
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The standoff with China has triggered a turf war between the Union home and defence ministries over the control of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. P 10 Chumar bunkers helped keep an eye on Chinese activity
New Delhi:The Chinese reportedly agreed to restore the pre-April 15 status along the LAC only after the Indian Army said it would pull down the "permanent" structures in Chumar that allow Indian troops to keep an eye on the Karakoram highway.
It has been claimed that India has also adopted "intrusive" tactics to counter aggressive Chinese patrolling, and temporarily rolling back some measures is not a large sacrifice. It was also claimed that these bunkers were made only as "retaliation" to the Chinese intrusion. The vacation of the strategically-located bunkers or "observation posts"—that help keep an eye on troop movements on the Chinese side—could end India's drill of daily border patrols to the "disputed" area, highly-placed sources said.
Indian troops were patrolling the motorable stretch from the regular Chumar post to the bunkers and manning them through the day. The Chinese troops, who surprised India by setting up tented posts some 19km into what India perceives as its side of the LAC, first flagged concerns over the bunkers in Chumar at the second flag meeting on April 21. Since then, this strategic observation post has emerged as abone of contention. China was uncomfortable with Indians being able to peep at the movement on the highway. The Chinese, in fact, had frequently tried to "immobilize" the surveillance cameras positioned at the Chumar post by cutting the wires. — Bharti Jain  |
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