New Delhi will not accept the Chinese military commanders’ proposal that Indian troops withdraw to Finger 1, the name given to one of the 8 mountain spurs jutting out of the Sirijap mountain range and dominating the northern shores of Pangong Tso, people said. familiar with the matter. .
It is understood that the Chinese commanders proposed that the Indian troops return to Finger 1 while the People’s Liberation Army soldiers return to Finger 8 and convert the area between the two spurs as a no-activity buffer zone or a no-man’s-land. But India, before Chinese troops violated 30 years of written agreements to maintain peace and tranquility across LAC on May 5, 2020, had been sitting on finger 4 and patrolling up to finger 8.
As of now, both the Indian Army and the PLA face off in Finger 4 with China increasing the infrastructure to Finger 8. The Indian Army and PLA are deployed in the vicinity of the Gogra-Hot Springs area with an enhancement of military capabilities. in the occupied area of Aksai Chin.
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“This proposal has been rejected. We cannot reward China for its transgressions. We want China to restore the status quo ante and for the PLA to return to its position in April 2020, ”said a military commander in New Delhi as Army General-in-Chief MM Naravane concluded his visit to the advanced areas of the East Ladakh sector. where tens of thousands of soldiers are deployed in subpolar temperatures to match the strength of the PLA.
One of the areas General Naravane visited on Wednesday was the strategic heights of Rezang La and Rechin La in the Kailash Ranges which was occupied by Indian troops in a night operation on August 29, a preemptive move designed to outmaneuver the PLA it was dealing with. to expand. his footprint and reaching the 1959 line on the south shore of the now nearly frozen lake. The Indian army chief went to the southern shores of Pangong Tso to make sure that the deployed troops are comfortable in freezing temperatures and that the armor is fit.
The senior army officer said that accepting the Chinese proposal would have amounted to giving up control over the territory patrolled by the Indian army and the Indo-Tibetan border police before Chinese troops began to transgress the Indian perception of the Royal Line of Control. (LAC).
This aggressive approach by the PLA was the backdrop to the clash between Indian and Chinese patrols on the north shore of Lake Pangong on the night of May 5. Over the following days and weeks, the fighting spread to other parts of the East Ladakh Sector including the Galwan Valley and the Gogra-Hot Springs area near the Kongka La area.
Chinese forces have refused to back down for the past seven months, often trying to suggest that Indian and Chinese troops should carry out a simultaneous troop withdrawal. India, however, wants the PLA to take the first step back because it was the first to cross the red line and trigger the confrontation.
The bloody clash in the Galwan Valley in mid-June that killed 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese soldiers has already eroded the semblance of trust on the Indian side. The PLA had sparked the violent fight 10 days after its top generals reached a broad understanding after three rounds of talks with Indian commanders on how to initiate disengagement at the points of confrontation.
A senior army official said that there have been multiple proposals from PLA commanders since then, but that most appear to be aimed at incentivizing Chinese troops for their transgressions. The Indian side has been firm in its demand that any disconnection and de-escalation result in the restoration of the April 20 status.
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