Chinese intrusion in Uttarakhand

Amid Sikkim stand-off, PLA troops enter Barahoti area

​New Delhi: Chinese troops entered one kilometre into Indian territory and threatened shepherds grazing cattle in the Barahoti area of Uttarakhand's Chamoli district, officials said on Monday.

The transgression took place on the morning of July 25 when a group of shepherds was asked to vacate the land by troops of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), officials in the know said on the condition of anonymity.

The incident comes in the backdrop of a prolonged standoff between Chinese and Indian troops at Doklam near Sikkim. Barahoti, an 80 sq km sloping pasture about 140 km from the Uttarakhand capital Dehradun, is one of three border posts in what is known the 'middle sector', comprising Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

It is a demilitarised zone where Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) jawans are not allowed to take their weapons, officials said.

In 1958, India and China listed Barahoti as a disputed area where neither side would send their troops. In the 1962 war, the PLA did not enter the middle sector and focused on the western (Ladakh) and eastern (Arunachal Pradesh) sectors.

After the war, ITBP jawans would patrol the area with weapons in a non-combative manner -- with the barrel of the gun facing down. During negotiations on resolving the border dispute, the Indian side unilaterally agreed in June 2000 that ITBP troops would not carry arms in three posts, Barahoti and Kauril and Shipki in Himachal Pradesh.

ITBP men go patrolling in civil dress and the Barahoti pasture sees Indian shepherds from border villages tending their sheep and people from Tibet bringing their yaks for grazing.

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi on July 27 discussed "major problems" in bilateral ties, the foreign ministry here said after the first high-level meeting between India and China since the military standoff erupted in the Sikkim sector on June 16.

The Chinese foreign ministry, in a brief readout on Doval-Yang meeting, said Yang "elaborated China's position on bilateral issues and major problems", which is being seen as an apparent reference to the standoff in the Doklam area.

China's state-run Xinhua news agency also reported that Yang met separately with Doval and his other counterparts from South Africa and Brazil. Though there were no direct reference to the Sikkim standoff in the Xinhua report, it said the talks between Doval and Yang included bilateral relations, international and regional issues and multilateral affairs.

Though China had maintained that there won't be a meaningful dialogue without the unconditional withdrawal of Indian troops, India has been maintaining that the unilateral action by China to build a road in the area was altering the status quo and had serious security implications for India.

India has also been pitching for diplomatic solution to resolve the standoff but sought simultaneous withdrawal of troops of both the sides from the tri-junction with Bhutan.

However, the Chinese official media has been carrying a blistering campaign accusing India of trespassing into the Chinese territory.