India-China Border Standoff: Indian Army Hands Back Captured PLA Soldier In Eastern Ladakh

On Friday, the People’s Liberation Army soldier has been taken into custody by the Indian troops deployed in the area after he transgressed the LAC in the area south of Pangong Tso lake in Ladakh.

Image used only for representational purposes/. (Photo by Mohd Arhaan ARCHER / AFP) / ALTERNATE CROP

The Indian Army has handed back the soldier on Monday who was held after he transgressed the LAC in the area south of Pangong Tso lake in Ladakh, as per ANI. The People’s Liberation Army soldier has been taken into custody by the Indian troops deployed in the area.

China on Saturday called for the immediate return of one of its soldiers who “went astray” in the China-India border areas and was apprehended by the Indian Army. As per the news agency ANI, the Indian Army has handed back the soldier to China at Chushul-Moldo at 10.10 AM on Monday.

The Chinese side has been informed about the captured of the soldier and the two sides are in touch over the issue.  “Due to darkness and complicated geography, a soldier of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army frontier defence force went astray in the China-India border early Friday morning,” China military online, an official website of the PLA said.

The recent capture of the soldier has happened amid a massive deployment of troops by the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in eastern Ladakh in the wake of the tense border standoff that erupted following a clash between the two sides in the Pangong lake area in early May.

This is the second instance since last year when a PLA soldier was captured on the Indian side of the LAC. On October 20, 2020, a PLA soldier, identified as Corporal Wang Ya Long, was captured near the Demchok area of Ladakh. The Army had recovered civil and military documents from him. He was provided a medical assistant and was returned a day later.