The high-power China Study Group meeting was attended by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, NSA Ajit Doval, security agencies chiefs and senior government officials.
Indian government’s China Study Group, on July 15, reviewed the outcomes of the meeting between India’s XIV Corps Commander and the Xinjiang Military District Commander, reports suggest.
The Corps Commander-level meeting between India and China at Chushul in eastern Ladakh was held on July 14-15 for nearly 15-hours.
The high-power China Study Group meeting was attended by Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar, National Security Adviser (NSA) and Special Representative of India-China Boundary Dialogue Ajit Doval, security agencies chiefs and senior government officials.
According to a report in the Hindustan Times, disengagement efforts were discussed in the meeting. Disengagement efforts have consolidated in the Galwan Valley, especially at Patrolling Point 14.
People familiar with the meeting’s proceedings told the newspaper that there had been a thinning out of troops at Patrolling Point 15 (Gogra) and Pangong Tso’s Fingers 4 and 5.
The corps commanders reportedly discussed and defined timelines for total disengagement at PP15 and Pangong lake.
Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.
At the peak of tensions, both sides were locked in a stand-off at Finger 4 of Pangong Tso along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The ‘Finger area’ of Pangong Tso is made up of spurs that rise along the bank of the lake. According to India, the LAC is situated at Finger 8. The large swath of land between Finger 4 and 8 used to be patrolled by both sides before tensions escalated in May.
Tensions along the LAC had been 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 month.
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 tensions