New Delhi: Riding on Zanskari horses with rifles slung upside down on their backs, Indian troops Wednesday completed the first set of patrols in the Depsang Plains covering the remaining patrolling point PP13, ThePrint has learnt.
Soldiers resumed patrolling in the critical Depsang Plains on 5 November, following an agreement reached by both sides on the 21st of the previous month.
On that day, troops carried out patrols only to PP 10, but not PP 11, 11A, 12, and 13 in the Depsang Plains as both sides had decided only one or two PPs would be covered at a time. The idea was to take it slow and build confidence in each other.
Sources in the defence and security establishment told ThePrint that a group of 15 personnel, including those from the Army and the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), carried out patrol and traversed the route from the “bottleneck” to PP 13 along Raki Nallah.
Each rode a Zanskari horse—a breed of small mountain horses—because no vehicle can be taken beyond the “bottleneck” area due to the rugged topography. The “bottleneck” is a rocky outcrop in the Burtsa Nala Valley that limits the movement of vehicles.
As per the agreement, neither side can stop for more than 15 minutes at a place during patrol. The Indian troops accordingly reached PP13, registered the location on their GPS devices, took photographs and came back.
Sources said while no Chinese soldiers were present, each side monitored the other through various systems, including drones.
The Chinese have removed their posts from the “bottleneck” area and the nearby “Y Junction” as per the agreement, and have set up new ones beyond the “limit of patrolling”, but within India’s perception of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
While PPs are usually along the LAC, in some areas including in Depsang Plains, they are just about 150 metres short of the “limit of patrolling”, which is several kilometres away from the claimed LAC.
The Chinese have built posts about 2.7 kilometres beyond India’s patrolling points, as per the agreement reached by both sides.
Similarly, the Chinese patrol to a point beyond the “bottleneck” area, but much short of their claimed LAC. They drive till the “bottleneck” and then continue patrolling on foot.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Tuesday told Lok Sabha that the disengagement agreement on Depsang and Demchok would allow both countries to discuss further de-escalation, as well as expand ties in a “calibrated matter”.
“We are clear that the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas is a prerequisite for the development of our ties. In the coming days, we will be discussing both de-escalations, as well as, effective management of our activities in border areas,” he said.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)