India, China reach border patrolling pact in Ladakh: senior Indian diplomat

NEW DELHI (AA) – India and China have reached an agreement on patrolling arrangements along the disputed border in Indian occupied Ladakh, according to a senior Indian Foreign Ministry official.

“Over the last several weeks, Indian and Chinese diplomats and military negotiators have been in close contact with each other, and as a result of these discussions, an agreement has been arrived at on patrolling arrangements along the LAC (Line of Actual Control) in the India-China border leading to the disengagements and a resolution of the issues that had arisen in 2020,” Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told reporters in New Delhi.

He said there have been events that took place in 2020 in several areas along the LAC.

“There were a few areas and a few locations where the standoff had not been resolved. Now as a result of the discussion over the last several weeks, an agreement has been arrived at on patrolling arrangements along the LAC in India-China border areas,” he said.

The world’s two most populated nations have been engaged in a tussle along the 3,500-kilometer long LAC — the de facto border between India and China in the Ladakh area of Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir — since May 2020.

At least 24 soldiers, including 20 from India, were killed in hand-to-hand combat that year, known as the “Galwan clashes.”