Disengagement complete in Pangong Tso, India-China military commanders to hold 10th round on Saturday

The border standoff between the Indian Army and PLA erupted on May 5 last year after a violent clash in the Pangong Lake areas.

India and China will hold the 10th round of corps commander level talks on Saturday to discuss disengagement from other friction points after their troops moved out from both the banks of Pangong Lake in the tense eastern Ladakh sector along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The talks will be held on the Chinese side of the LAC in Moldo.

After a nine-month standoff, the two militaries reached the agreement on disengagement in the north and south banks of Pangong lake. (AP Photo)

During the 10th round of talks, corps commander-ranked officers of the two armies will discuss disengagement at other friction points—Depsang, Hot Springs and Gogra—in eastern Ladakh, officials said.

As part of the agreement on disengagement between the two nations, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was to move its forces to the east of Finger 8 on the north bank, and the Indian Army was to move to its base near Finger 3, defence minister Rajnath Singh told Parliament earlier this month. He added that India and China have also agreed to temporarily suspend their regular patrolling activities on the north bank.

The minister said these are mutual and reciprocal steps and structures that were built by both sides after April 2020 in both north and south bank areas will also be removed.

“India's strategy and approach during disengagement talks with China are based on directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that we will not allow an inch of our territory to be taken by anyone. It is a result of our firm resolve that we have reached the situation of an agreement," Singh had said. 

The border standoff between the Indian Army and PLA erupted on May 5 last year after a violent clash in the Pangong Lake areas and both sides gradually increased their deployment by rushing thousands of soldiers as well as heavy weaponry to the tense Ladakh region.

Earlier in the day, China admitted that four of its soldiers were killed in a clash with the Indian troops in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley in June last year. The rare acknowledgement came in a PLA Daily newspaper article. As many as 20 Indian soldiers were killed in the brutal clash.