‘Chinese troops make bids to enter Indian waters in Ladakh’

After making incursion bids in Ladakh through land route, Chinese troops have made several attempts to enter Indian waters at Pangong lake nestled in the higher reaches of Ladakh with the latest incident reported on Friday. The development has come to the fore especially when Indian vice president Hamid Ansari  visited the neighbouring country this week.

According to reports reaching various government agencies here, the Army had a face-off with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as recent as 27 June  in the lake when their troops tried to enter the Indian waters. 

Udhampur-based Northern Command Army spokesman Col S Goswami declined to answer a query from PTI about the latest incursion attempts and instead was asked to ‘approach PRO (Army)’. 

However, there was no reply from his side when it was pointed out to him that he was the spokesperson of the Army. The spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs when asked by reporters on Saturday about reports of fresh incursions by Chinese troops in Ladakh region merely said Indian soldiers guarding the country’s borders will be able to provide an appropriate response should any incident occur on the border. 

According to sources privy to the development, Chinese troops were intercepted at the imaginary line that is supposed to be the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the lake and sent back after the face-off drill during which the army personnel on both sides wave banners claiming it to be their territory.