New Delhi: Embarrassed by the admission in one of its official documents that China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) had indeed made 'transgressions' in certain areas in eastern Ladakh, the defence ministry in a hasty move withdrew the report after the media reported on the issue on Thursday morning.
The document titled 'Major activities of Department of Defence for the month of June, 2020' referring to the ongoing border row between the Indian Army with the PLA was uploaded on the defence ministry website on Tuesday.
The report had referred to the PLA transgressions in north bank of Pangong Tso, Hot Springs, and Gogra on May 17-18.
The admission is embarrassing in the backdrop of the government's official stand that PLA had not entered the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The official stand is ambivalent in the sense that local reports from East Ladakh say the PLA has occupied lands on the Indian side of the LAC.
Read: Impact of Chinese incursion in Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir
Part of the problem is lack of consensus between the two Asian giants on where actually the LAC actually lies.
The border row took a deadly turn on June 15 when at least 20 India soldiers lost their lives in a brutally violent physical fight in the Galwan Valley. China has still not come out with its casualty numbers.
As part of the fallout, there has been massive mobilization of the two armies along areas on the LAC and in the depth areas with at least 1,00,000 men in combat-ready positions besides the deployment of heavy weapons and air force assets.
Talks have been ongoing between India and China at various levels including military, diplomatic and special representative levels. Till now there has been no breakthrough to break the stalemate.
The fifth round of military talks at the corps commander level was held in Chushul-Moldo on August 2. The previous four rounds took place on June 6, June 22, June 30 and July 14.
Read: 8 cooks, 300 'hot' meals in 80 minutes: How PLA is training military cooks for Himalayan winter
