INDIA, CHINA OK DISENGAGEMENT OF FORCES ON LADAKH BORDER

India and China have agreed on a phased and coordinated removal of forward troop deployments from a key point in the eastern Ladakh region that sparked a months-long face-off, Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said in parliament.

This confirms Chinese Defense Ministry official Wu Qian's Wednesday statement that a consensus had been reached and front line units had begun organizing simultaneous disengagement of their troops along the banks of Pangong Tso Lake, Sunrita Sen reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

India and China have been locked in a serious stand-off since May along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), an informal and disputed border in the mountainous Ladakh region.

India has accused China of mobilizing troops and armaments along the LAC and of transgressing the line and violating pacts to maintain peace on the disputed border. China claimed its soldiers were on its territory.

Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in June, the worst confrontation between the neighbours in 45 years.

This was followed by a large mobilization of troops from both sides along the LAC in inhospitable mountain terrain, which has peaks between 4,500 and 5,500 meters high.

The two sides have been conducting talks at multiple levels since then to de-escalate the situation. Minor skirmishes between soldiers of the two sides were also reported since the June face-off.

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