"Lot of unanswered questions": Congress MP Manish Tiwari asks centre for detailed report on LAC situation

New Delhi [India], October 23 : While expressing his 'satisfaction' with the patrolling preparations along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the India-China border area, Congress MP Manish Tewari on Wednesday asked for a detailed report from the Central government on the current and pre 2020 situation at LAC.
"If there has been forward movement with China, that is extremely satisfying and satisfactory. However, there are very serious questions that remain. What exactly was the pre-2020 situation? That has not been elaborated by the government because it has never really come before the Parliament for a discussion on the Chinese transgressions," Manish Tiwari told ANI.
The remarks came after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on October 21 announced that an agreement had been reached regarding patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the India-China border area.
While addressing a special briefing on PM Modi's visit to Russia, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri stated, "This agreement is the outcome of extensive discussions over the past several weeks with Chinese interlocutors at both diplomatic and military levels."
Further mentioning a paper by a senior IPS officer, Manish Tiwari, said, "The second question is, which are those areas into which China transgressed in April and May 2020? How deep were those transgressions? Number 3, has China withdrawn from all those areas in which it had transgressed, or are there some legacy disputes that are still remaining, like Demchok and Depsang? Number 4, what is extremely critical is that there was a paper written by a senior IPS officer in January 2023. In that paper, it was explicitly mentioned that from Karakoram Pass to Chumar, 65 patrolling points--India has lost access to 26 of those. So, have we regained access to those 26 patrolling points now that an agreement on patrolling seemingly seems to have been reached? What has been put out by the Foreign Minister and Foreign Secretary is not really a complete narration of what actually has transpired."
Tiwari said that it is important that the government brief Parliament chronologically on what exactly was the pre-2020 situation and where exactly the Chinese transgressed.
"On the Chinese side, they seem to be talking about certain resolutions--are they written resolutions, oral resolutions or when they use the word resolution, does it refer to resolution of a conflict situation as we know it or the resolution of a disagreement as we know it? So, there is a lot of opacity still. So, under those circumstances, it is very important that the government brief Parliament exactly and chronologically about what exactly was the pre-2020 situation, where exactly the Chinese transgressed, what was the depth of that transgression and have the Chinese vacated all the areas that they had transgressed into, those 26 patrolling points that were inaccessible--have we got access to them? What are these resolutions that the Chinese are talking about? So, there are a lot of unanswered questions," he added.
In early May 2020, troops from China's People's Liberation Army and the Indian Army clashed at locations along the LAC, the disputed boundary between China and India. The tensions between the two neighbouring countries along the border escalated on June 15 face-off in Galwan Valley, leading to casualties on both sides. India and China have held multiple rounds of military talks to resolve the matter.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Russian city of Kazan on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit.
The meeting in the capital of Tatarstan marks the first formal interaction between the two leaders in five years and follows the two countries reaching an agreement on resuming regular patrolling along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.