Sources suggest that the parliamentary standing committee on defence is scheduled to visit the Galwan Valley and Pangong lake in the eastern Ladakh region. The 13 member committee is co-chaired by senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Jual Oram and also includes Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar.
Indian and Chinese forces are pulling back their heavy forces from the Pangong Tso lake on the Ladakh front. The standoff by the armed forces of both countries on the border had lasted nine months now and the situation had been tense along the Line of Actual Control. Recently, India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in Rajya Sabha that disengagement along LaC had been decided by both India and China.
The terms of the withdrawal agreement will see Chinese troops pulling back from Finger 4 all the back to Finger 8. Earlier, they had advanced around 8 km West of the Pangong Tso lake. Meanwhile, Indian forces will be pulling back to the Dhan Singh Thapa Post at Finger 3. The disputed landmarking the boundary between the two has been designated as a non-patrolling zone.
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To look forward from here, Defence Ministry of India stated that there were still some outstanding issues with regard to deployment and patrolling at some points along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh. It said that they would be discussed during future India-China talks at the military and diplomatic level.
Also, in the year 2021, India is the Chair of BRICS grouping and is likely to conduct the annual BRICS summit. If the summit happens physically, Chinese President Xi Jinping will be coming to India.
Additionally, the Chinese defence ministry said on Wednesday that the border standoff that lasted for about 9 months between India and China saw the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers.
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