Ladakh standoff ends as Chinese agree to pull out

Ladakh standoff ends as Chinese agree to pull out Khurshid, Li Visits To Go Ahead Indrani Bagchi & Rajat Pandit TNN  New Delhi: After a tense face-off for a couple of weeks, Chinese troops have decided to withdraw from Indian territory in Depsang plains in northern Ladakh. This will pave the way for foreign minister Salman Khurshid’s visit to Beijing on May 9 and Chinese premier Li Keqiang’s India visit on May 20.     While the official line is that both armies have withdrawn to their previous positions, it’s unclear why the Indian army would have to move back since it is very much within Indian territory. In fact, in his statement to a parliament committee, the ministry of defence had clarified that Chinese troops had come 19km inside Indian territory.     Both sides held the fourth and fifth flag meetings between local commanders over the weekend, amid the faint possibility of a resolution to the continuing standoff in the Depsang Bulge area.     The first three flag meetings, on April 18, 23 and 30, at Spanggur Gap between the Daulat Beg Oldi and Chushul sectors had failed to break the deadlock.  BACK TO PRE-APRIL 15 POSITIONS  Indian troops had set up some tents on Chinese side as a retaliatory measure. Those will be taken down Troops on both sides will move back to pre-April 15 positions Indian govt will wait to verify Chinese withdrawal on the ground before making an announcement Both govts expected to make simultaneous statements on Monday Foreign minister Salman Khurshid’s visit to Beijing on May 9 and the Chinese premier’s India visit on May 20 to go ahead UPA changes stance under pressure  New Delhi: It is unclear whether India made any concessions to the Chinese or whether the withdrawal was unconditional.     A tense stand-off finally came to an end as the Chinese agreed to withdraw their troops from Ladakh, where they had intruded 19km deep into Indian territory. The Indian government had been reluctant to take a strong line with the Chinese for what was a national security scare. It is only under intense public and political pressure that the UPA government finally took a hard line.     The Chinese had been insisting that India dismantle its security and monitoring posts built in Chumar and other areas. India had resisted this because Chumar is considered to have strategic significance, particularly since Indian soldiers can monitor troop movements across the Line of Actual Control from there.     Before the news of the troops withdrawing was announced, some sources had said India might agree to remove some of the structures as “a face saver’’ to enable the Chinese troops to withdraw to their pre-April 15 positions. Analysts said if the Indian government had indeed agreed to make a deal with the Chinese, this kind of incursion wouldbe repeated over and over again.     The Chinese intransigence had created a political problem with memories of the 1962 war and India’s humiliating defeat by China playing in everyone’s minds. Both the ruling Congress party and the opposition had asked for Khurshid’s visit to be cancelled after Chinese troops refused to withdraw despite three flag meetings with the Indian side. The Chinese action caught India by surprise in mid-April. The Indian government tried hard to rationalize the incursion, with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh describing it as “localized problem” and Khurshid as mere “acne”. The Indian reaction was seen to be late, inadequate and appeared to be glossing over the importance of the Chinese action. MHA, MoD lock horns over ITBP  New Delhi:The 20-day military standoff with China in Ladakh has triggered an escalating turf war between the home ministry (MHA) and the defence ministry (MoD), much like the 26/11 terror strikes in Mumbai provoked a blame game among different maritime security and intelligence agencies.     The Army, backed by the MoD, has now taken to strongly reiterating its decade-long demand for the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) to be placed under its “operational command and control’’ for “better and coordinated border management’’ along the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.     Having taken up the jurisdiction matter with national security advisor Shivshankar Menon, in the wake of recommendations by the recent Naresh Chandra taskforce on national security, the MoD-Army combine want “an early decision’’ by the Cabinet Committee on Security to resolve the imbroglio.     MHA, however, has once again dismissed the Army’s case, holding that it will not get control over ITBP come what may. The ITBP, one of the seven central armed police forces (CAPF) under the MHA, mans the LAC along the Tibet Autonomous Region with around 17 battalions. The Army is positioned in “depth’’ for support with some 23 battalions. TNN