India, China To Complete Troop Disengagement In Ladakh By Early Next Week

Indian and Chinese troops will complete the disengagement in Depsang and Demchok areas of Ladakh by Tuesday and go back to their positions prior to April 2020, NDTV reported, citing Indian Army sources.

As troops will return to the pre-2020 positions, the temporary facilities like tents and sheds will be removed, the persons privy to the development said. However, the ground commanders can continue with their regular meetings, they added.

Both the countries will continue to have surveillance options in the Depsang and Demchok areas but will have to notify each other before going out for patrolling "to avoid any miscommunication", the sources said.

The development comes four days after India and China announced a border patrolling agreement to end the standoff along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh that erupted around four-and-a-half years ago.

Tensions between the two Asian neighbours erupted in May 2020, due to a standoff along some border points in eastern Ladakh. The tensions escalated in June 2020, when a clash in Ladakh's Galwan led to the killing of 20 Indian soldiers.

On Oct. 21, India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said an agreement was reached between that would lead to a resolution of the issues that arose in 2020.

On Oct. 23, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China's President Xi Jinping endorsed the patrolling and disengagement agreement during the bilateral meeting at the BRICS Summit in Kazan in Russia.

Earlier this week, during NDTV World Summit, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar said the disengagement agreement was an outcome of patience and persistent diplomacy during times when many had given up.

This mutual understanding on patrolling will help to regain the peace and tranquility of pre-2020 in the border areas, he said. "Hopefully, we will be able to come back to that peace and tranquility."

(With PTI Inputs)