Army chief General Bipin Rawat said there has been no intrusion by the Chinese in Ladakh's Demchok sector. His statement on the sidelines of the seminar comes amidst reports of Chinese soldiers crossing the Line of Actual Control (LAC) last week after some Tibetans hoisted Tibetan flags on the occasion of Dalai Lama's birthday on July 6.
"Chinese come and patrol to their perceived Line of Actual Control...We try and prevent them. But at times there are celebrations that take place at the local levels. Celebrations were going on our side by our Tibetans in the Demchok sector. Based on that, some Chinese also came to see what was happening. But there has been no intrusions. Everything is normal," the Army chief said.
On July 6, during a local festival on the Indian side called Doley Tangoin Fukche in Demchok area of eastern Ladakh to mark the birthday of the Dalai Lama, about 11-12 people in civil dress in two SUVs were seen waving banners from the Chinese side across the Indus river which read "ban all activity to split Tibet".
To questions whether those people were Chinese civilians or soldiers, Rawat said, "There are civilians who have come in and obviously when civilians come in Chinese (soldiers) will accompany them. Nobody would want civilians going to the border without their activity being monitored. Both sides will continue to monitor the activity of civilians along the LAC and even LoC."
