The disengagement process between India and China on the line of actual control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh was completed on Tuesday, after which the two armies began verification of positions and dismantling of infrastructure by each other, defence sources said.
According to sources, the dismantling of temporary structures in Depsang plains and Demchok is almost complete, and some verification has already taken place on both sides. Verification happens physically as well as through UAVs.
The troops have been pulled back on either side to stand at depth in the rear locations that form part of the disengagement. The patrolling, undertaken to points not accessible since April 2020, will be conducted by small parties of troops numbering some 10 to 15 soldiers.
India and China have remained in a military standoff since Chinese incursions four and half years back along the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh.
Last week, four days after India said that an agreement on patrolling in the Depsang Plains and Demchok had been reached with China, Beijing confirmed the same, saying that "the Chinese and Indian frontier troops are engaged in relevant work, which is going smoothly at the moment.".
According to sources from the Army, the patrolling will begin within two days after the verification. Both sides will give the other prior information so as not to create a problem of face-off.
In Depsang plains, Indian troops can now patrol beyond the 'bottleneck' area because the Chinese had been preventing Indian troops from accessing the patrolling points that lay beyond.
Indian troops should now be able to get to the patrolling points at Track Junction and Charding Nullah in Demchok.
However, the sizeable force of Indian troops rushed to Ladakh in the wake of the stand-off last year will stay there till a more broad-based consensus is achieved on the border patrolling mechanism with the Chinese.
"There are no plans to pull back by any troops from Ladakh in the near future till an atmosphere of mutual trust and verification is established," defence sources said.
A similar deal is also being finalized in Arunachal Pradesh where a stand-off broke out in Yangtse, Asaphila, and Subansiri Valleys, sources said.
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