‘Both sides need to reassure each other’: Army chief following India-China LAC patrolling agreement

A day after India announced reaching an agreement with China on patrolling along the LAC in eastern Ladakh, Army Chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi on Oct 22 said as of now "we are trying to restore the trust" and both sides will have to "reassure each other" to achieve this.

He was speaking at an interaction session here after delivering a lecture hosted by defense think-tank USI.

India on Oct 21 announced it has reached an agreement with China on patrolling along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. This is seen as a major breakthrough in ending the over four-year-long military standoff ahead of a likely meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Russia this week.

"As far as we are concerned, we were looking at... we want to go back to the status quo of April 2020. Thereafter, we will be looking at disengagement, de-escalation and normal management of Line of Actual Control. And, this normal management of the LAC will not just start there. There are phases in that also," the Army chief said.

"So, this is what I am saying. This has been our stance since from April 2020...and even today remains the same. So, as of now, we are trying to restore the trust. How the trust will get restored. It will get restored once we are able to see each other, and we are able to convince each other" related to the buffer zones that have been created, he said.

"And, both will have to reassure each other," the Army chief added.

Patrolling gives you that kind of advantage and, that is what is commencing. "And, as we restore the trust, the other stages will follow through," he said.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Oct 21 said the agreement was finalized following negotiations by the two sides over the last several weeks and that it will lead to a resolution of the issues that had arisen in 2020.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Oct 21 said Indian and Chinese soldiers will be able to resume patrolling in the way they had been doing before the border face-off began and the disengagement process with China has been completed.

(PTI)