The government Saturday confirmed “verification patrolling has commenced on mutually agreed terms in Demchok and Depsang” along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh as part of an agreement between India and China to reduce tensions in the region while they look to repair bilateral ties. The agreement restores Indian access to its patrolling points in the Depsang Plains not far from Daulat Beg Oldie, India’s northern outpost near the Karakoram Pass, and Demchok in the southeast of Ladakh. The announcement on resumption of patrolling in the Depsang Plains came a day after Indian Army sources confirmed that “coordinated patrolling” had begun in the Demchok area where the Chinese had been squatting at Charding Nullah. In the Depsang Plains, the PLA had cut off Indian access to five patrolling points — PP 10, 11, 11A, 12, 13. Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, said, “You are all aware that on October 21, 2024 the last phase of disengagement was agreed upon between India and China. As a result, verification patrolling has commenced on mutually agreed terms in Demchok and Depsang.” “As agreed at the leaders’ meeting in Kazan (between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping on sidelines of BRICS Summit in Russia last month), relevant dialogue mechanisms at the level of Foreign Ministers and other officials will be used to stabilise and rebuild bilateral relations. We will let you know when these mechanisms meet to deal with issues of each other’s interest and concern,” he said. The meeting in Kazan took place on October 23, two days after Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri announced the agreement over patrolling rights in the Depsang Plains and Demchok and said Special Representatives on the India-China boundary question would meet at an early date — NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese counterpart Wang Yi last met in December 2019. Relations between the two countries plunged after Chinese incursions in eastern Ladakh were detected in May 2020, triggering a military standoff along the LAC. In keeping with the agreement reached last month, talks are taking place at the level of local commanders — Brigadier rank and below. This agreement is important because the Chinese side, until a year ago, showed reluctance to even discuss Depsang Plains and Demchok while it agreed on disengagement at other friction points — PP 14 (Galwan valley), PP 15 (Hot Springs), PP 17A (Gogra), north and south banks of Pangong Tso. The disengagement process in Demchok and Depsang Plains has also involved removal of temporary structures. It marks the first step of a long three-step process – disengagement, de-escalation and de-induction of troops massed in the border areas for over four years now.
