Chinese troops have pitched tents 19 kms inside Indian territory: Government

The government on Friday told a Parliamentary Committee that Chinese troops have pitched tents 19 kms deep inside the Indian territory in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir and that efforts are underway to ensure that the status quo is maintained.

Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma and some other senior officials informed the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence that India has deployed forces to "keep a close watch on the border", sources told PTI.

Sharma and other officials appeared before the Committee after BJP members Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Prakash Javadekar wanted to know the actual ground situation in Depsang sector of Ladakh where the Chinese incursion took place in Daulat Beg Oldie area a week ago.

The meeting of the committee was cut short as members were dissatisfied with the insufficient information provided by the officials and they were asked to report back at the next meeting on May 30 with appropriate and exact details of the situation.

The officials told the Committee that Indian Army patrols reported on April 16 the presence of Chinese People's Liberation Army in Depsang, pitching tents 19 km inside the LAC, the sources said.

They told the panel that as per the established mechanisms, the issue has been taken up at the level of flag meetings and through diplomatic channels to maintain status quot and resolve the issue through existing mechanisms.

The Defence Ministry officials told the Committee that China disputes the international boundary with India and there is no commonly delineated LAC between the two countries.

They said there are a few areas along the border where India and China have differing perceptions of the LAC, the sources said.

Incidents of transgression due to differences in the perception of LAC are taken up with the Chinese side through established mechanisms such as border personnel meetings, flag meetings, hotlines and diplomatic channels, the officials told the panel.

The agenda for today's was welfare of armed forces personnel but the issue related to incursion in Ladakh was added after Naqvi and Javadekar demanded to get the clear picture of the situation and on how the government is handling it.

Naqvi and Javadekar wrote to Standing Committee Chairman Raj Babbar yesterday, saying the situation in Ladakh is "very serious" but the government is not taking it seriously.