New Delhi (NVI): The Army today denied certain media reports saying that the Indian troops have occupied heights at Finger 4 on the northern bank of Pangong Tso lake in eastern Ladakh, adding that the Army has made “precautionary deployments” in the area.
“Reports of Indian troops occupying heights at Finger 4 are not correct. As part of the precautionary deployment carried out on 30 August 2020, some readjustments of our positions on North Bank of Pangong Tso Lake on our side of LAC had also been carried out,” the Army said in a statement.
Defence sources said that the Indian Army continues to be on the offensive at the ridgeline on Finger 4.
Some media reports had earlier claimed that Indian troops have recaptured the dominating heights on the ridgeline of Finger 4 on the northern bank of Pangong Tso.
As per sources, the Indian troops are close to the Finger 4 ridgeline where Chinese troops have been camping since April, in violation of the consensus between the two countries on LAC. China’s PLA troops have been occupying the area till Finger 4 ridgeline on the northern bank of Pangong Tso.
Border tensions between India and China have further escalated after the June 15 Galwan Valley incident, when the Chinese Army made an attempt to change the status quo on the Southern Bank of Pangong Tso Lake along LAC over the last weekend, but it was thwarted by the Indian Army.
Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) carried out the “provocative military movements” on the intervening night of last Saturday and Sunday.
On top of that, the Chinese troops again engaged in “provocative action” along the LAC on Monday, even as the ground commanders of the two sides were in discussions to de-escalate the situation. That brazen attempt too was thwarted by the alert Indian troops.
The armies of the two countries have been in a face-off situation for the last four months, triggered by China’s aggressive actions at multiple points in the Eastern Ladakh sector in early May. On one occasion, the militaries of the two countries engaged in a bloody fight in the Galwan Valley on June 15, in which India lost 20 soldiers, including a Colonel. China also suffered an unspecified number of casualties.
Over these last four months, several rounds of talks have been held at military and diplomatic levels but China has refused to pull back its troops from the friction points, in its attempt to change the status quo at the LAC.
-ARK
