The Indian and Chinese armies have started coordinated patrolling along the Line of Actual Control in Demchok on Friday (November 1, 2024), while patrolling in Depsang is expected to commence in a day or so, sources confirmed.
ADVERTISEMENT
This comes after disengagement was completed on Wednesday at both these areas located in eastern Ladakh, the final friction points from the 2020 standoff between the two countries. The resumption of patrolling is a significant step in returning to the status quo of pre-April 2020.
Coordinated patrols
Officials from both sides verified the completion of disengagement on the ground in both the areas, Army sources said. Ground commanders, at the rank of Brigadier and below, held meetings on Wednesday to work out the modalities for patrolling. In order to avoid face-offs between patrols and prevent clashes, the timing and frequency of patrols will be coordinated.
ADVERTISEMENT
However, given that there has been a standoff going on at Demchok since 2017 and that the latest agreement is only to restore the ground situation to the pre-April 2020 situation, it is not clear upto what point the Indian Army will get to patrol in the Demchok area.
New patrolling norms
At Depsang, which the situation is much more complex, patrolling is expected to resume over the weekend. At least technically, this means that Indian Army should be able to resume patrols upto the Patrolling Points 10, 11, 11A, 12, and 13 in the area, which it last managed to access in January 2020.
With disengagement now completed at all the friction points of the standoff that began in May 2020, the next step is to work out new patrolling norms along the LAC and resume patrolling at other friction points as well – such as Galwan, Patrolling Point 15 and 17A in the Gogra Hotsprings area, and the north and south banks of the Pangong Tso – where buffer zones are currently in place.