Patrolling, grazing in traditional areas has begun in Ladakh’s Demchok, Depsang: Army chief

Army chief Upendra Dwivedi said on Monday that patrolling and grazing in traditional areas has started in eastern Ladakh’s Demchok and Depsang sub-sectors along the Line of Actual Control between India and China.

Addressing the Army’s annual press conference, Dwivedi said that the situation at the Line of Actual Control was sensitive but stable, and that the military was well-poised to deal with any eventuality.

Demchok and Depsang were among the key points of contention during talks held between the corps commanders of India and China’s armies to reduce border tensions after the clashes in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley in June 2020. Indian and Chinese troops completed disengagement in these two areas on October 30.

The army chief said on Monday that he has authorised all his co-commanders “to handle these issues at the ground level with respect to patrolling and grazing so that these trivial issues can be resolved at the military level itself”. India’s troop deployment along the Line of Actual Control, Dwivedi said, was balanced and robust.

He said that after the tensions began in eastern Ladakh in 2020, Indian and Chinese troops had moved forward and stopped the other side from going to traditional areas where they had been patrolling. “What has happened in the disengagement is that...

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