SOURCE: NDTV
India and China have readied a three-phase plan for disengagement in eastern Ladakh where the two sides have been in a stand-off since May this year, senior government sources have said.
However, there is no signature or agreement on the plan’s implementation as yet, the sources said. No time period has been agreed upon within which to implement the plan; neither is the extent to which it will happen decided between the two sides.
The disengagement includes the Chinese and Indian forces pulling back armour – tanks and armoured personnel carriers from close to the Line of Actual Control. The Chinese would return to the Finger 8 region on the North Bank of the Pangong Lake, vacating their existing positions. India, in turn, would return to its pre-existing position prior to when the tension began.
India would move back forces on the South Bank of Pangong where India dominates the heights to positions before the tension began.
India’s been watchful ever since the Galwan valley clash in June this year in which 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives, as did many Chinese soldiers, including a commanding officer.
The Indian security establishment, including National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane, and Air Force chief RKS Bhadauria, had responded with strong military measures like occupying the dominating heights along the southern and northern bank of Pangong Lake on the LAC.
While China mobilised its troops in a massive deployment along the LAC, India moved close to 60,000 troops for forward deployments, besides bringing in reserve divisions.
