New Delhi: A brigadier-level officer representing the office of the Director-General of Military Operations (DGMO) has been taking part in the ongoing negotiations with the Chinese military in eastern Ladakh since October 12 when the seventh round of negotiations had taken place in Chushul.
“This has been so done as to keep all stakeholders—the ground troops, the DGMO, and the external affairs ministry on the same page,” a source told ETV Bharat.
The participation of the DGMO official is significant as all military operations are conducted under this sensitive office.
A joint secretary-level official from India’s ministry of external affairs who specialises on China had already been participating in the military talks since the sixth round on September 21.
The course of the deliberation by the Indian side is guided by the high-level China Study Group (CSG).
CSG is headed by the National Security Advisor with the cabinet secretary, home secretary, foreign secretary, defence secretary, vice-chiefs of the Army, Navy and IAF, and the chiefs of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) as members.
Till now eight rounds of talks have taken place between the two sides with the core mandate to ‘de-escalate and disengage’.
“The date for the ninth round hasn’t been decided yet,” the source said.
Besides the DGMO official, the Indian delegation will include Lieutenant General PGK Menon, Navin Srivastava, MEA joint secretary besides local military representatives.
The talks has hit a recent hitch with Indian media reporting that a three-step disengagement plan has been proposed by the Chinese side during the eighth round of corps-commander level talks at Chushul—something the Indian side has not officially commented on while the Chinese side has denied it.
Besides the apparent lack of mandate on the participants, the progress has been stymied by contrasting preconditions. While the Indian army insists on deliberating on all face-off points at the same time, the Chinese side has been insistent on prioritising Indian pull-back on the southern bank of the Pangong Tso.
Despite the intractable nature of the India-China border row, both sides have broadly agreed to ‘disengage and de-escalate’ after talks on June 6, June 22, June 30, July 14, August 2, September 21, October 12 and November 6. But nothing tangible has been achieved till now.
