NEW DELHI – Indian and Chinese armies held a high-level flag meeting at Chushul to clear differences amidst stand-off at Chumur area in Ladakh, one of the most sparsely populated regions in the Indian-held Jammu Kashmir.
India’s NDTV channel reported that both the armies have agreed to restore the status quo and withdrawal of the troops is expected to begin from Friday. The troop withdrawal will be done in phases, it said. The flag meeting was based on a ‘request’ made by China's People's Liberation Army, the channel reported.
Before Chinese President Xi Jinping's India visit, the two previous meetings had failed to break the deadlock. For over a week, 1000 Chinese and 1500 Indian soldiers have been ranged against each other on the territory of the disputed state. The row at Chumur is a result of Chinese attempts to build a road, which India objected to.
Chinese soldiers entered the disputed territory with construction equipment and a large labour force. India then sent its forces to the area, resulting in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation. “We had objections to a road that they were making. They had objections to an observation post that our men set up earlier this month,” an official of the Ministry of Defence said.
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