India on Saturday asked China to pull back its troops and stop further construction activities in the strategically-located Depsang-Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) sector of eastern Ladakh.
It is the region where both have amassed thousands of soldiers as well as tanks and artillery guns.
Reports quoting sources said, India stressed the ‘importance of reducing tensions to prevent any inadvertent escalation or clash’ in the Depsang Plains, which has been a major flashpoint over the years because the rival ‘perceptions’ of the line of actual control (LAC) vastly differ in the region.
In terms of strategic importance, Depsang Plains is more crucial than the Pangong Tso and Gogra areas, where the deadlock in troop disengagement has largely persisted despite five rounds of the highest military dialogue at the corps commander-level till now.
The ‘one-rung lower’ talks on Saturday were held between 3 Infantry Division commander Major General Abhijit Bapat and his PLA counterpart on the Chinese side of the DBO-Tien Wien Dien (TWD) border personnel meeting point from 11 am to 7.30 pm.
“Below the corps commanders, who are focusing on the major face-off sites, talks are being regularly conducted at the level of colonels, brigadiers and major generals for discussing specific sectors,” a source was quoted.