Local people living near India’s border with China in Ladakh claimed that the Indian government has surrendered land to China after both sides agreed to withdraw troops from contentious areas this month.
Last week, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given 1,000 square kilometres of territory to China without a fight. Mr Gandhi also asked the government to explain how the territory ceded to China will be retrieved?
Since 2020, China and India engaged in a cross-border dispute in the western Himalayas. However, they began pulling back soldiers from the contested area of Gogra-Hot Springs after top-level military meetings in which they agreed to deescalate the situation.
India and China have been involved in a tense cross-border dispute since 2020 in the western Himalayas. However, the two nations began pulling back soldiers from the contested area of Gogra-Hot Springs after top-level military meetings in which they agreed to deescalate the situation.
According to Indian government statement, the territory on both sides of the border has been restored to the ‘pre-standoff period’. As part of the truce, buffer zones were created in which neither side was allowed to patrol their troops, locals told media.
According to Guardian newspaper, the locals are also apprehensive of the intrusion as they have lost massive areas which they used as grazing lands for their cattle. They fear this will impact their main sources of living — the cashmere wool-producing Changra goats.
The stand-off between the two neighbouring nations started on May 5, 2020, after a violent clash in the Pangong lake areas. The tensions reached the tipping point a month later when a hand-to-hand battle in 2020 left 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers dead.
