Protocol sets stage for troop cut along LAC

Even Army Chief Gen J.J. Singh said he was very optimistic about cross-border relations with China. ‘‘The ongoing CBMs will lend substance to the treaty of peace and tranquility and the landmark protocol signed by PM Manmohan Singh and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on April 11,’’ he told the Express this evening.

The protocol actually builds on an agreement signed in New Delhi on 29 November, 1996. Article III of the 1996 pact had outlined the need to ‘‘reduce or limit’’ field army, border defence forces, paramilitary forces and any other mutually-agreed category of armed force deployed in mutually agreed geographical zones and to reduce or limit a list of armaments from deployment along the LAC.

Under the new protocol, both the armies will hold two additional border meetings every year at Spanggur Gap in the Western sector, Nathu La in Sikkim sector and Bum La in the Eastern Sector to celebrate the National Day or Army Day on either side. Now, border meetings will also be held at Kibithu-Damai in the Eastern Sector and Lipulekh Pass in the Middle Sector.

The Army official said, ‘‘The protocol has also developed on previously agreed rules in case of an eyeball-to-eyeball situation. Now the steps soldiers have to take are more clearly defined.’’

Under the new protocol, in case of a ‘‘face-to-face situation due to differences on the alignment of the LAC’’, border forces on both sides will immediately return to base from frontier positions, with no provocation or threat. In such a situation, both sides will have to inform their respective headquarters, so that resolutionary meetings can be arranged diplomatically or through the border contact route.