India & China troops begin disengagement along the Pangong Lake as per consensus reached

Chinese and Indian border troops have begun their disengagement on the southern and northern shores of Pangong Lake as per plan, China's mouthpiece media Global Times said quoting the Chinese Defence Ministry. According to the Chinese media report, both sides had reached a certain consensus during the ninth round of military commander-level talks, based on which they had begun to disengage their troops from Wednesday. 

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Read:India, China Holds 9th Corps Commander-level Talks; MEA Representative Also In Attendance

Ninth commander-level talks

During the 9th commander-level talks, India and China held extensive deliberations on modalities for disengagement of troops from all friction points in eastern Ladakh where nearly 1,00,000 Indian and Chinese troops are stationed, holding their ground after their fierce face-off in Galwan, nine months ago. This time, an MEA representative along with the Army officials was also a part of the military talks.

During the talks, India strongly demanded the restoration of status quo ante in all areas of eastern Ladakh prior to April. India had previously rejected China's proposition for 'a selective approach', urging that the disengagement process must start simultaneously at all friction points. 

As per the proposal, India is expected to vacate heights occupied on the Kailash range on the southern side of the lake in the next phase. On August 29 and 30, the Indian army had substantially occupied the high state of combat region along the banks of the Pangong Lake. Moreover, it was also proposed that the conflict zone between Finger 4 to Finger 8 could become a no patrolling zone for some time. 

"It was said that both sides agreed to follow the important consensus of the leaders of the respective country and maintain the momentum of talks," MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said after the talks.

Srivastava also stated that the two countries had agreed to hold the 10th round of Corps Commander-level dialogue soon to take forward the de-escalation process along the LAC.

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