Ladakh Standoff: India To Push For Restoration Of Status Quo In Military Meet With China On Saturday

The military delegations of both the countries would be led by a Lieutenant General-level officer and the meeting will take place at Border Personnel Meeting Point in Maldo region.

Military delegations of both the countries would be led by a Lieutenant General-level officer. (File Photo/ Getty)

New Delhi: In a bid to resolve the Ladakh border standoff between India and China, top brass of military of both the countries will hold talks on Saturday morning with an aim to sort out the dispute in the Eastern Ladakh region and de-escalation of forces across the Line of Actual Control (LAC). As per reports, the meeting between Indian Army and People's Liberation Army of China will take place at around 9 am tomorrow and India will demand the removal of all permanent and temporary structures set up by the Chinese Army at the LAC. As per government sources, military delegations of both the countries would be led by a Lieutenant General-level officer and the meeting will take place at Border Personnel Meeting Point in Maldo region. The meeting will be between Lieutenant General Harinder Singh, the general officer commanding of Leh-based 14 Corps, and his Chinese counterpart who heads the People's Liberation Army's Group Major General Liu Lin, Commander, South Xinjiang Military Region. "India will demand that China maintain the situation as it was before this standoff and also remove all permanent and temporary structures put up by them," news agency IANS quoted sources close to the development as saying. The delegation will deliberate on three major standoff positions: Hot Spring, Pangong lake at Finger 4 and the Galwan Valley region, sources said. Before this, talks between major general-rank officers of the two countries took place on June 2 that remained "inconclusive". Sources also said that China has made a slight retreat at Galwan Valley, one of the flashpoints leading to the standoff with India, in Ladakh region. In order to resolve the issue and bring back and restoration of status quo in Ladakh, China's People's Liberation Army moved back two kilometres and the Indian Army has moved back one kilometre. It is also being said that Indian Army Chief MM Naravane is confident that the stand-off will be resolved at the military level talks. China has deployed a large number of troops at the Line of Actual Control as reinforcements. Reacting strongly to the movement, even Indian Army deployed its forces accordingly. WATCH REPORT | Ladakh Standoff: What's On The Agenda Of Key India-China Meet On June 6? An estimated report suggest that both India and China have deployed over 1000 troops in an eyeball to eyeball confrontation at all the four places in the Ladakh region. Indian Army has kept a close watch in the Pangong Tso (lake) sector and the Galwan Valley region where the Chinese have enhanced deployment. What triggered the face-off was China's stiff opposition to India laying a key road in the Finger area around the Pangong Tso (lake) besides construction of another road connecting the Darbuk-Shayok-Daulat Beg Oldie road in Galwan Valley. The clash took place at Pangong Tso (lake) on May 5 when troops from both the armies were involved in a physical bout leaving several from both sides injured. The current stand-off in Ladakh is not the usual patrolling face-off, but part of the new combative strategy that was rolled out by China after Doklam dispute which took place in 2017 and ended after a 73-day standoff.