India and China have agreed to move their soldiers back 1.5 kilometres from the respective claim lines, reports suggest. The Chinese troops have reportedly vacated structures they had built at patrol point 14 in Ladakh's Galwan Valley, where the June 15-16 face-off took place.
India and China have agreed to move their soldiers back 1.5 kilometres from the respective claim lines in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley and Hot Springs, reports suggest.
This is aimed at creating a buffer zone of sorts and was agreed upon at the Corps Commander-level talks.
According to a report by News18, the Chinese side has vacated the structures it had built at patrol point 14 (PP14) in Galwan Valley, where the June 15-16 face-off had taken place.
Soldiers from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) have also moved back from Point 15 and Point 17 — in the Hot Springs and Gogra areas — where they had intruded several hundred metres beyond what India asserts is the LAC.
However, news agency ANI has reported that Chinese heavy armoured vehicles are still present in the depth areas along the Galwan River. Indian Army is monitoring the situation with caution.
Tensions along the LAC were rising since early May amid a stand-off between Indian and Chinese soldiers. However, the tensions escalated to another level after 20 Indian Army soldiers, including an officer, were killed in a violent face-off in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley on June 15-16.
There were casualties on the Chinese side too. However, that number is not clear.
Since then, the Indian Army has already sent thousands of additional troops to forward locations along the border in the last two weeks.#NewsAlert – China shifts troops from June 15 clash site. PLA troops pull back, buffer zone created: Sources. @praveenswami and Group Capt (R) MJA Vinod with the views. #IndiaChinaFaceOff pic.twitter.com/Rn7vsgPgzA
— CNNNews18 (@CNNnews18) July 6, 2020
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has also moved a sizeable number of its frontline Sukhoi 30-MKI, Jaguar, Mirage 2000 aircraft and Apache attack helicopters to several key air bases including Leh and Srinagar following the clashes.
Read our complete coverage on the India-China border tension