India to maintain LAC troop deployment as trust deficit with China remains

NEW DELHI: With the huge trust deficit with China continuing along the Line of Actual Control, India is going full steam ahead with preparations to maintain its forward deployment of troops for the fifth successive winter in the forbidding terrain of eastern Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh-Sikkim.

There may be indications of "progress and narrowing of differences" in political-diplomatic talks, but top sources in the defence establishment told TOI that "the trust deficit on the ground with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) remains very high".

The way China continues to strengthen its forward military positions as well as build 'permanent defences' and infrastructure all along the 3,488-km LAC, it is quite clear the PLA will not be returning to its peacetime locations in the near future, the sources added.

As the Army transitions from 'the summer to winter posture', with massive 'winter stocking' underway for the additional troops forward deployed along the frontier, General Upendra Dwivedi and the commanders-in-chief of the force's seven commands will also review the operational situation at a meeting to be held in Gangtok (Sikkim) on Oct 9-10.

Talk of a possible breakthrough in the military confrontation in eastern Ladakh has been fuelled by a flurry of bilateral political-diplomatic talks over the last couple of months. These included the 30th and 31st meetings of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) on July 31 and Aug 29, which were followed by a meeting between national security advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on the side-lines of a BRICS meet at St Petersburg on Sept 12.

The rival military corps commanders, however, held their 21st round of talks way back on Feb 19. China had then once again rebuffed India's push for defusing the two major continuing face-offs at the strategically-located Depsang Plains, which is towards the crucial Daulat Beg Oldie and Karakoram Pass in the north, and the Charding Ninglung Nallah track junction near Demchok.

"Disengagement at Depsang and Demchok, if it happens, will only be the first step. Till the subsequent de-escalation and de-induction of troops take place for restoration of status quo ante, the threat will remain," a senior officer said.
The creation of buffer zones after the earlier troop disengagements at Galwan Valley, Pangong Tso-Kailash Range and Gogra-Hot Springs up till Sept 2022 as well as the confrontation at Depsang and Demchok has meant that Indian troops cannot access 26 of their 65 patrolling points (PPs), which begin from the Karakoram Pass in the north and go down to Chumar in the south in eastern Ladakh.

"Even the buffer zones were meant to be only temporary arrangements. China continues to make unreasonable demands and is playing the long waiting game. India has to be careful about not falling into China's trap," the officer said.

There is, of course, the realization that with the military stalemate persisting, only politico-diplomatic talks can break the deadlock.

“If the two sides agree to a broad framework, the actual disengagement modalities at Depsang and Demchok can be worked out at the military level,” he added.

The Army, meanwhile, is maintaining ‘a high level of operational preparedness’, with readjustment of troops along with adequate reserve forces and logistics in each sector of the LAC, to deal with any contingency

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