Leh/New Delhi, Apr 29: Chinese troops have erected one more tent in Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector in Ladakh raising to five the number of such structures in the area of incursion, as the standoff between India and China today entered the third week.
With China showing no signs of withdrawing its troops from the Indian territory, Sources said efforts to break the impasse over the incursion are yielding no results because of its insistence that some bunkers constructed by India at a key vantage point be dismantled.
China is understood to have laid down this condition before the Indian side for pulling back from the place 19 Km inside the Indian territory in DBO where around 50 troops have been camping for the last over two weeks, sources said.
The Government is seized of this issue at the meetings of the China Study Group headed by the National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon and including Secretaries of key Ministries such as Defence, Home and External Affairs, sources said.
The rigidity shown by the Chinese over its demand is also one of the reasons behind more Flag meetings between the two sides not being held for over a week, they said.
Sources said the vantage point is at a junction between two mountains in Ladakh area from where the Indian troops could remain unseen and oversee the activities of the Chinese troops in that area.
After the Chinese troops observed the Indian position there due to the movement of vehicles and soldiers, they intruded into Indian territory on April 15 to press for their demands, the sources said.
The vantage point is at a location which is claimed by both sides as their territory, they said.
The sources also said Chinese soldiers are getting continued supplies from trucks and light vehicles from its side of the border.
According to a detailed report from the site of incursion, the additional tent has come up after three failed Flag meetings between Indian and Chinese Armies at Chashul.
As the government came under opposition attack on the incursion issue, Congress said it is well aware of the situation in Ladakh. “As and when an appropriate action is necessary, the government will take it,” Congress spokesperson Sandip Dikshit said.
He also emphasized that war is not an option in such scenarios.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, who is in Moscow, said this was not the time for scoring points but for speaking in one voice.
