India China agree on 3 phase disengagement of troops from Pangong Lake area

In a major development, the ongoing India-China border conflict may be resolved soon as the armies of the two countries have agreed for disengagement from parts of the Eastern Ladakh sector under which they would be moving back to their respective positions before April-May timeframe earlier this year. India and China discussed the disengagement plan from the Pangong lake area during the 8th Corps Commander-level talks which were held on November 6 in Chushul, in which External Affairs Ministry’s Joint Secretary Naveen Shrivastava and Brigadier Ghai of Directorate General of Military Operations had taken part. Earlier Army Chief General M M Naravane has said that he was hopeful that both the countries will be able to reach an agreement on disengagement and de-escalation of tension in Eastern Ladakh. This was in connection with the Commander-level talks held in Chushul. The disengagement plan will be carried out in three steps in one week from the talks in the Pangong lake area. The armoured vehicles including tanks and armoured personnel carriers were to be moved back from their frontline deployment to a significant distance from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) by both sides. The second step will be carried out near the northern bank on the Pangong Lake in which both sides were supposed to withdraw around 30 percent of troops everyday for three days. In the third and last step, the two sides were to withdraw from their respective positions from the frontline along the southern bank of Pangong Lake area which includes the heights and territories around Chushul and Rezang La area.