China on the move, eyeing Indus control

Army officials in Leh were part of a meeting called by the Jammu and Kashmir government that agreed that China was encroaching land with "specific design" to grab a particular area to extend its control till Indus river.

Army officials in Leh were part of a meeting called by the Jammu and Kashmir government that agreed that China was encroaching land with "specific design" to grab a particular area to extend its control till Indus river.

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"As per all maps and evidences, the Dokbug pasture (in northeast of Leh) land undisputedly belongs to India and China is moving with specific design to grab this area to extend its control till Indus (river)," an official report said.

During the meeting, chaired by Commissioner (Leh) A.K. Sahu and attended by Brigadier General Staff of 14 Corps Brig Sarat Chand and Col Indraj Singh, it was also agreed that all agencies must take "coordinated and effective measure to destroy the Chinese design ...”.

Army Chief Gen Deepak Kapoor, however, recently dismissed the allegation that Indian land had shrunk along the Line of Actual Control.

He raised this issue during a unified command meeting earlier this week in J&K as well but state's Chief Secretary S. S. Kapoor made it clear to him that the state didn't agree with the army's perception.

Originating in the Tibetan plateau near Lake Mansarovar, the river runs through the Ladakh district, then Gilgit-Baltistan and flows into the Arabian Sea near Karachi.

The river is 3,180 km long and is Pakistan's longest river. The Dokbug area is the place where "Rebos" (nomads) take cattle for grazing. In December 2008 and early last year, they were driven out by the Chinese. PTI