India, China Reach Disengagement Pact in Pangong Lake Areas in Ladakh: Rajnath Singh; Army Tanks Begin Pullback
News 18India and China have reached an agreement on disengagement in the North and South banks of Pangong lake in eastern Ladakh that mandates both sides to “cease” forward deployment of troops in a “phased, coordinated and verifiable” manner, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced in Parliament on Thursday, in a breakthrough after a nine-month border standoff. Making a statement in the Rajya Sabha a day after China announced the disengagement process, Singh said China will pull back its troops to east of Finger 8 areas in the northern bank of Pangong lake while the Indian personnel will be based at their permanent base at Dhan Singh Thapa Post near Finger 3 in the region. “The agreement that we have been able to reach with the Chinese side for disengagement in the Pangong lake area envisages that both sides will cease their forward deployments in a phased, coordinated and verified manner.” “The Chinese side will keep its troop presence in the North bank area to east of Finger 8. Defence Minister Singh said three key principles determined India’s approach in handling the situation which are “the both sides should strictly respect and observe the LAC, neither side should attempt to alter the status quo unilaterally, and all agreements and understandings between the two sides must be fully abided by in their entirety.” In his statement, Singh also gave a genesis of the standoff and said the Chinese side had mobilised a large number of troops and armaments along the LAC as well as in the depth areas, adding Indian armed forces too had made adequate and effective counter deployments to ensure that India’s security interests were fully protected.