India, China working on border control mechanisms: Antony
26 Jul 2013
India and China are trying to develop effective mechanisms to prevent the "embarrassing" face-offs between their troops at "disputed" points along the Line of Actual Control between the two nations in the upper Himalaya, defence minister A K Antony said in New Delhi today.
Terming the 21-day stand-off between the two sides in Depsang valley in Daulat Beg Oldi area as an "unusual" incident, the defence minister said the two countries will meet soon in Beijing to discuss issues and try to find a solution for such "unpleasant incidents" (See: Himalayan face-off with China ends as troops pull back).
"Till the final settlement of the border issue, we are trying to find out more effective mechanisms to prevent occasional incidents. There are many points in the LAC that are disputed and they are patrolled by both sides. So, sometimes it leads to some face-off," he told reporters on the 14th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas.
He was speaking after paying homage to those fallen in the brief Kargil war triggered by a Pakistani incursion into Indian territory.
The minister was asked to comment on the rising incursions by the Chinese troops into Indian territory along the LAC in Ladakh and the North-Eastern sectors.
Antony said, "There are disputed points where both sides are going there which sometimes causes some embarrassing situations."
He said after the Depsang incident in April, India and China had "free and frank" talks and "we are trying to have more border personnel meeting places and have more effective mechanisms to prevent such unpleasant incidents.
"On the one side, both sides are trying to find a long-term solution to the long pending border dispute. Till that time, our aim is to maintain peace and tranquillity at the border."
On the recent third meeting of the Joint Working Group between the two sides, the minister said free and frank discussions were held between both sides.
"We are going to have another round of this meeting in Beijing soon on this issue. So, I think we will be able to find out a solutions to such unpleasant incidents on the border," he said.
In the recent past, there have been several incidents of incursions in Ladakh sector where Chinese troops have entered well within Indian side and stayed there for long periods before returning to their areas.
In one such incident, Chinese troops had entered Chumar area in Ladakh on 26-17 July on horses and ponies and demanded that Indian troops leave the area.
In the last two weeks, there have been at least five incursions in the area and around 150 incidents in the last seven months (See: Chinese troops destroy Indian posts in Ladakh again)
