Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said incursions along India-China border occur due to problem of perception about boundary.
The leaders of India and China are talking to resolve the issue, the Home Minister assured, a day after a report on Wednesday said two incursions by the Chinese troops have been recorded in the Ladakh sector in the past three days.
The incursion bids by the Chinese People`s Liberation Army (PLA) were reported in Demchok and Chumar areas of Ladakh sector in Jammu and Kashmir but were pushed back into their territory by Indian security personnel.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Fortaleza, Brazil, Monday night on the sidelines of the BRICS summit and emphasised on the need to find a solution to the Boundary Question.
The latest incident occurred in Charding Nilu Nullah Junction (CNNJ) in Demchok sector on Tuesday when PLA personnel entered the area on their vehicles in the wee hours claiming it was Chinese territory, official sources said on Wednesday.
The PLA soldiers, who wanted to have a round of the area, were stopped by the Indian Army and personnel of Indo Tibetan Border Police(ITBP), a force which guards the India-China border.
After a 30-minute long stand-off followed by a banner drill where armies of both the countries warned each other against moving a step forward, the Chinese PLA returned to their side, the sources said.
The Chinese troops, riding on horses, had earlier entered through Chumar area on July 13 only to be confronted by Indian soldiers and after the usual banner drill between the two sides, the PLA patrol returned to their territory.
The incident took place at Patrol Point number 62, the sources said.
Located 300 km east of Leh, Chumar has been an epicentre of heightened activities of the PLA who had been making increased attempts to enter through this region as India has a dominance in this sector.
Chumar, a remote village on Ladakh-Himachal Pradesh border, has been an issue for Chinese who claim it to be their own territory and have been frequenting it with helicopter incursions almost every year. In 2011, it dropped some of the soldiers of PLA in this region and dismantled the makeshift storage tents of the Army and ITBP.
This area is not accessible from the Chinese side whereas the Indian side have a road almost to the last point on which the Army can carry a load up to nine tonnes.
Chumar had become a flash point during the fortnight long stand-off last year in Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) last year as the Chinese side had objected to overhead bunkers erected by the Indian side.
As part of an agreement reached at the flag meeting to end the stand-off from April-May 2013 at DBO, India had to dismantle some overhead bunkers in Chumar.
Again, Chumar witnessed Chinese troops walking away with an Army surveillance camera on June 16 last year which was meant for keeping an eye on the PLA troops patrolling there.
The same camera was returned after a few days.
(With PTI inputs)
