Even after several rounds of talks between India and China, no consensus has been reached on the removal of the army from East Ladakh. With this it has now been almost decided that the soldiers of the two countries will have to remain for many months to come amidst the freezing cold. After 8 rounds of talks between Korvendra on November 6, no concrete progress has been made between the two countries so far. ‘This has been going on for the last seven months, the deadlock still remains silent.
A source told a talk to our associate newspaper Times of India, “The negotiations have almost come to a standstill due to lack of agreement on the terms and steps to withdraw by mutual consent. China has not yet given any date for the ninth round of military talks. It is being told that China is still adamant that the proposal to repel the army should be implemented from the southern side of Pangong Lake-Chushul area, where Indian troops have been strategically advancing on the dragon since August 29.
On the other hand, India has insisted that the withdrawal of troops should start from the northern shore of Pangong Lake where the Chinese army has occupied 8 km area from Finger 4 to Finger 8 since May. It remains a matter of dispute between the two countries. Not only this, there are some differences between the armies of both countries regarding the distance to retreat in Finger area. Apart from this, there is also a question about the strategically important Depsang plains.
For the past seven months, the Chinese Army has been patrolling Indian soldiers in patrol in Depsang. It is being told that after the 8th round of talks, India and China had agreed to a large extent that troops, tanks, cannons and armored vehicles be pushed back from the front of the Pangong Lake-Chushul area. This raised hopes of an early solution to this crisis, but so far no consensus has been reached on the withdrawal of troops.
Both China and India have deployed around 50-50 thousand soldiers in this area. Indian security establishments believe that if the top political-diplomatic level does not interfere, then the current deployment of troops from both countries will change to LAC. On the other hand, senior officials have insisted that India should not hurry to remove the troops. At the same time, we must ensure that Indian troops do not reach a strategically poor position.
