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India-China Border Stand-Off: Demchok In Ladakh Becomes Latest Flashpoint As PLA Stops Canal Work
An Indian Army soldier keeps a vigil at Bumla pass at the India-China border in Arunachal Pradesh. Photo credit: BIJU BORO/AFP/GettyImages
India and China have been in a stand-off since Wednesday in Ladakh's Demchok area along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). China has expressed opposition to certain construction projects on the Indian side. While tensions have risen, there were no incursions by the Chinese troops.
According to government sources, the local administration is constructing an irrigation canal under the rural employment guarantee scheme to link a village with a 'hot spring' in Demchok, 250km east of Leh. China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops are understood to have entered an area near the LAC and stopped the construction work.
The Indian Army, while stating there was no incursion, also said that the issue of construction projects "on both sides" is being sorted out in the Border Personnel Meetings (BPM). "No Chinese incursion across LAC. Issues relating construction projects on both sides of LAC being resolved in BPM," the Army's Northern Command said in a tweet.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup, meanwhile, said even if an incident may have happened, it would be resolved through established mechanisms, and added that it should not be "sensationalised".
"I am not specifically aware of any such incident but even if something like this has happened, there are, as you know, established mechanisms to handle such situations as a result of which in the recent past at least our border with China has been free of any major incident. I would urge let’s not sensationalise things out of context," he said.
The Indian Defence Ministry and Army have maintained that there have not been any incidents of "incursion" by China, but due to different perceptions of the LAC, transgressions do occur as both sides undertake patrol up to their perception of the LAC.
With inputs from IANS.
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