(TibetanReview.net, Nov09’24) –The Indian Army has on Nov 7 dismissed media reports that military talks between India and China on the modalities of patrols had reached a deadlock in eastern Ladakh’s Depsang, saying no roadblocks or objections had been faced. It called the media reports “speculative and bereft of facts”. However, the tribuneindia.com said Nov 7 that it stood by its Nov 6 news story.
In a post on X on Thursday (Nov 7), the Additional Directorate General of Public Information of the Army said some reports on Wednesday and Thursday had speculated about roadblocks in the disengagement process in Depsang and Demchok after an agreement between India and China last month.
“It is unambiguously stated that the disengagement at Depsang and Demchok has been completed and implementation of consensus, as agreed to, is being undertaken in a planned manner that includes resumption of patrolling to traditional patrolling areas. There are no roadblocks/objections from either side that have been faced in this process,” the ndtv.com quoted the Army as saying.
“The articles published in this regard are speculative and bereft of facts. The concerned media houses are requested to verify and authenticate facts before publishing such sensitive articles and exercise due editorial discretion so that no unsubstantiated or misleading information is propagated,” the post was further quoted as saying.
The report also quoted India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar as having said earlier, “We reached an agreement on patrolling, and we have gone back to the 2020 position. With that, we can say the disengagement with China has been completed… There are areas which, for various reasons after 2020, they blocked us, we blocked them. We have now reached an understanding which will allow patrolling as we had been doing till 2020.”
Earlier, in its Nov 6 report, the tribuneindia.com said, citing unnamed sources, that the two sides had reached a deadlock over the “extent and routes of patrolling” at Depsang along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). It said this had happened during the two sides’ negotiations on the modalities of patrols at patrolling points (PPs) 10, 11, 11-A, 12 and 13 on the eastern edge of Depsang.
The report said the Chinese side had raised two issues. Firstly, it had reservations about the Indian Army going full extent on the PPs 10 and 11 routes. Secondly, it had reservations about the extent (distance) of patrol on PPs 11A, 12 and 13.
In its clarification, the tribuneindia.com said Nov 7: “The Army, in its response, has not said patrolling has started on all routes in Depsang. The news item did not question consensus or disengagement process. It only said China was delaying modalities. It did not say the Indian Army was ‘not abiding’ by the consensus.”