Indian Army, China’s PLA verify disengagement from Ladakh’s Patrol Point 15

The Indian and Chinese armies on Tuesday jointly verified the disengagement of their frontline troops from Patrol Point-15 in the Gogra-Hot Springs area of eastern Ladakh to confirm the full implementation of the troop pullback that was completed a day earlier on September 12, people familiar with the matter said.

“Both sides have completed disengagement from PP-15 in a phased, coordinated and verified manner,” said one of the persons cited above, asking not to be named. The disengagement process, announced jointly by India and China last week, involved troops of both armies moving to rear locations, dismantling the temporary infrastructure created there and joint verification to assess implementation.

This was the fourth round of disengagement, and its completion has now turned the spotlight on friction areas that are still unresolved along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Depsang in the Daulet Beg Oldi sector and Charding Nullah Junction (CNJ) in Demchok sector.

India and China have been locked in a border standoff for 28 months, and talks have led to disengagement at four friction points along LAC so far, with a resolution of outstanding problems at two friction areas still elusive. Despite the disengagement goals achieved thus far, both sides remain heavily deployed in the Ladakh theatre.

The disengagement at PP-15 may have resulted in the creation of a buffer zone of 2-4 km, as was done after the previous rounds, though there was no official word from the government on the latest pullback or the joint verification.

On September 8, India and China announced that front-line troops kicked off disengagement from PP -15, with the breakthrough coming after the 16th round of military talks in July.

Disengagement of Indian and Chinese soldiers from friction points was stuck for over a year, with the last breakthrough before the PP-15 development coming in August 2021 when the two armies pulled back their troops from the Gogra sector (PP-17A).

Former director general of military operations, Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia (retd), said: “We should continue the negotiations at the political, diplomatic and military levels to sort out the outstanding problems in the other two areas. Also, we should not expect results after every round of talks.”