New Delhi: Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Monday said that the situation along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh remains “stable but sensitive” and the number of troops currently deployed there will not be reduced.
Addressing a press conference at the Manekshaw Centre here, General Dwivedi said there have been a series of meetings among the ministers and even the Prime Minister has met the Chinese head. Similarly meetings have taken place at the corps commander level too.
Stating that troop deployment along the LAC was directly dependent on the trust factor, Gen Dwivedi said, “Troop deployment or the infrastructure development is dependent on the capability on the other side and not on the presence of troops on the other side.
He said, “We have two types of deployment called the summer deployment and winter deployments. During the winter deployment, the number of troops come down, therefore at least in the winter strategy we are not looking forward to any reduction of troops. With regards to summer strategy, we will take a review and based on that time, how many negotiations, conferences and meeting have taken place based on the indications of assurances we may like to review at that point of time.”
With regards to Depsang and Demchok, Gen Dwivedi said, “From April 20 onwards (IN 2024), both sides had moved forward and stopped the other side from going to the traditional areas where they were carrying out the patrolling”.
“So what has happened in this disengagement, is that both sides have agreed to go back and go back to the areas where both sides feel okay, This is where we used to come for the tradition patrolling. That have been agreed upon and both sides have fell back,” the Army chief said.
As far as verification patrolling is concerned, the Army chief said that two rounds have already been completed by both sides over a period of time and both were quite satisfied about it. And as far as the grazing ground is concerned, they have now been mutually agreed upon.
On October 20 last year Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had said that an agreement was reached on the patrolling arrangement between the two countries, paving the way for the withdrawal of troops of both India and China and restoration of the situation of April 2020.
On October 29, the disengagement process between Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh’s Depsang and Demchok areas was completed.
As a part of the process, both the armies also dismantled the temporary tents and structures. UNI
