India digs deep at strategic heights as talks go nowhere

The Indian Army has further strengthened its presence at the strategic heights in the southern bank of Pangong Lake, days after foiling China’s “provocative” actions to change the status quo in the area, government sources said on Wednesday.

The development comes even as military-level talks between India and China remained inconclusive, with Beijing showing no sign of agreeing to disengage along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. The talks, which lasted several hours over the last three days, remained inconclusive on Wednesday, with more rounds of discussion likely to take place in future. The one key agenda of the talks was Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops’ fresh incursion attempts into Indian territory.

Sources said that the military-level talks will continue in future, as India wants to expose China’s lies in days to come with more evidence at its command. Sources said that Chinese side indulged in blame-game, accusing the Indian forces of having entered into what they claimed to be their territory. Indian military officials rejected their accusation outright and provided proof on the basis of detailed map and satellite images that were enough to nail Chinese lies, sources told The Daily Guardian.

According to sources, more satellite and intelligence inputs-based evidence are ready with the Indian officials which China deliberately avoids to take note of, as it does not want to maintain the status quo along the LAC.

Both the countries held talks for the third consecutive day on Wednesday. The attempt was to defuse fresh tensions triggered over the weekend by repeated Chinese attempts at intruding into Indian territory. Both countries had sought the brigade commander level talks taking place at the request of both sides.

Earlier, Indian troops had moved in on 30 August into areas that it had held as well as some new positions that the Chinese have disputed as lying on their side of the LAC. Troops of the two sides were separated by 300-500 metres, making the possibility of a localised clash strong.

Meanwhile, MEA sources have said that China has no substantial ground to counter Indian military experts as was reflected in the meeting on Wednesday.

Top MEA officials have spoken to the Defence Ministry higher-up seeking the details of what transpired in the meeting over the last three days. Sources say that China could not come out with any substantive claim except that it got into equivocation when confronted with solid evidence by Indian side about the PLA’s misadventure. The Indian foreign ministry will hold a press conference soon to give an impression coming out of the three-day interactions between New Delhi and Beijing.

With agency inputs