SOURCE: INDIA TODAY
With Indian and Chinese militaries pulling back at several points, including Pangong Tso in the Ladakh region after a 9-week standoff, India’s defense establishment is preparing for the next step. On Thursday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is expected to chair a meeting with the National Security Advisor (NSA), Chief of Defense Staff and other officials, including the three service chiefs.
Sources say a complete review of preparedness, situation on the ground, verification reports on pullback and future strategy is on the cards in the meeting.Ahead of this, Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane met Rajnath Singh on Wednesday evening. With the Chinese shifting back tents, armoured and defence vehicles and troops by 1-2 kilometres from locations identified as points of disengagement, the Indian government wants the next item in the agreement to be put in motion.
The two sides had agreed to not only pull back and increase the distance between the two formations, but also reduce the buildup on each side to make the disengagement and de-escalation more meaningful.
Centre has been backed by the Army, which is also keen to push for “marking the Line of Actual Control”, a 3,488-kilometer unmarked boundary shared by India and china, by basing the demarcation on the present ground position of the troops.
The agreement to clarify the Line of Actual Control in 1993 flopped as the talks between the two sides ran out of steam in 2002.
Despite the pull back, Modi government is still wary of Chinese movement. There is uncertainty over complete de-escalation in the form of pullout of thousands of personnel, artillery and armoured assets from the region.
Also there is a view in the Army that clarity through marking of the LAC would reduce chances of future clashes of the kind that took place on June 15 in the Galwan region.
Meanwhile, the government has asked the personnel to be cautious even when pullback is concerned. A much more extensive exercise to monitor the pullback has been mounted this time. Apart from the Army, Air Force and military intelligence (MI) even the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) a technical intelligence agency, will be assisting in the measures.
The agencies under the National Security Advisor has been asked to keep tabs on the activities behind the high mountains.
While the defence forces manage a delicate situation, diplomatic channels are soon likely to get activated.
Sources in the government have said that a meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) may take place any time since Thursday.
The WMCC established in 2012 is an institutional mechanism for consultation and coordination for management of India-China border areas, as well as to exchange views on strengthening communication and cooperation, including between border security personnel.
