The Indian Army on Monday said that it has conducted the first round of patrolling in the Depsang area along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), following the consensus reached between the Indian and Chinese sides for disengagement and resumption of patrolling in the region.
"Following the consensus reached between the Indian and Chinese sides for disengagement and resumption of patrolling in Depsang and Demchok, the Indian Army patrol to one of the patrolling points in Depsang was successfully conducted today. This is yet another positive step towards maintaining peace and tranquility on the LAC," the official X handle of Fire and Fury Corps, Indian Army posted.
India and China made 'some progress' in disengagement: Jaishankar
Earlier, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday said India and China have made "some progress" in disengagement, describing it as a "welcome" move which opens up the possibility that other steps could happen.
The Indian Army commenced verification patrolling at Depsang while patrolling at Demchok started on Friday.
"In terms of India and China, yes, we have made some progress. You know, our relations were very, very disturbed for reasons all of you know. We have made some progress in what we call disengagement, which is when troops were very close to each other, with the possibility that could lead to some untoward incident," Jaishankar said while responding to a question during interaction with the Indian diaspora here.
"There are very large numbers of Chinese troops deployed along the Line of Actual Control who were not there before 2020. And we, in turn, have counter-deployed. There are other aspects of the relationship, which also got affected during this period. So clearly, we have to see after the disengagement, what is the direction we go. But we do think the disengagement is a welcome step. It opens up the possibility that other steps could happen," said the minister.
He said that the expectation after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Russia last month was that "both the national security advisor and myself, we would meet our counterpart.
So that's where things are".
On October 21, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said in Delhi that an agreement had been finalised between India and China following negotiations over the past several weeks and that it would lead to a resolution of the issues that arose in 2020.
The agreement was firmed up on patrolling and disengagement of troops along the LAC in eastern Ladakh, a breakthrough to end the over four-year standoff.
The ties between the two Asian giants nosedived following a fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.
(With agency inputs)
