More than 100 Chinese troops intruded over 4 km inside Uttarakhand

Security forces are reviewing their operational readiness and deployment pattern on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Uttarakhand after the Chinese intruded into the Indian territory in last week of August. They also reportedly tried to damage a makeshift bridge on the Indian side.

The LAC in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh facing China is known as central or the middle sector while the Ladakh front is known as western sector and the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim is called eastern sector.

The transgression in Barahoti district of Uttarakhand took place when more than 100 Chinese troops intruded more than four kms inside the Indian side on horseback. They were in the area for more than two hours and returned after trying to dismantle a bridge, sources said here on Tuesday.

There was no face-off with the Indian troops, including the Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). The Indian forces rushed to the site after learning about the transgression, sources said, adding the local commanders were now reassessing their patrolling patterns and deployment.

Barahoti region has seen transgressions in the past few years but no serious incident resulting in face-offs took place.  This area saw the first intrusion in 1954. The incident in August saw the Chinese coming through Tun La (pass).

The ITBP and the Army guard the nearly 450 km LAC in Uttrakhand. Officials claimed transgressions take place in Barahoti due to difference of perception about the LAC. The Chinese and Indians have exchanged maps in the central sector some years back and things have not moved since then.

The incident in Uttarakhand rang alarm bells in the Indian security establishment as the face-offs in eastern Ladakh persist for the last one and half years. The two sides have held 12 rounds of Corps Commander-level talks since trouble erupted in May last year. The talks saw the two armies withdrawing their troops from Pangong Lake and Gogra.

However, troops are facing each other on three other flash points and the 13th round of talks in the next few weeks may see some forward movement, sources said. Moreover, the Chinese have started preparing for winter months by erecting shelters at some places near the flash points in Eastern Ladakh, they said.