NEW DELHI: A Chinese soldier, who was apprehended by the Indian Army at the southern bank of Pangong Tso in eastern Ladakh on Friday, has been handed back to China at Chushul sector. The soldier was apprehended after he transgressed across the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
South Pangong Tso is one of the areas where only a few hundred metres separate troops of the two countries.
The capture of the soldier comes amid a massive deployment of troops by the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in eastern Ladakh in view of the tense border standoff that erupted following a clash between the two sides in the Pangong lake area in early May.
In a statement released on Saturday, the Indian Army said: “During early hours of 08 January, 21, a Chinese soldier was apprehended on the Indian side of the LAC, in Ladakh, in area South of Pangong Tso lake. The PLA soldier had transgressed across the LAC and was taken into custody by Indian troops deployed in this area.” “Troops from either side are deployed along the LAC since friction erupted last year due to unprecedented mobilisation and forward concentration by Chinese troops. The PLA soldier is being dealt with as per laid down procedures and circumstances under which he had crossed the LAC are being investigated. Further details are awaited,” the Army stated.
On Saturday, China had called for the immediate return of one of its soldiers who “went astray” in the China-India border areas. “Due to darkness and complicated geography, a soldier of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army frontier defence force went astray in the China-India border early Friday morning,” China military online, an official website of the PLA said.
On October 19 last year, Indian troops had captured a Chinese soldier after he “strayed” across the LAC in the Demchok sector of Ladakh. Corporal Wang Ya Long of the PLA was handed back to China at Chushul-Moldo border point in eastern Ladakh following laid down protocols.