Blunt Take : Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi Has This To Say On The Agreement Between India And China To End Four-Year Border Stand-Off

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India will look at disengagement and de-escalation of the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh after restoration of the status quo of April 2020, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi said in report by PTI , a day after New Delhi announced striking an agreement with Beijing to end the over four-year border row in the region.

In his first comment on the pact on patrolling along the contested frontier, General Dwivedi said the Indian military is trying to restore ‘trust’ and both sides will have to ‘reassure each other’ to achieve this objective.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had earlier announced India and China reached an agreement on patrolling along the LAC in eastern Ladakh, in a major breakthrough in ending the over four-year military standoff.

“As far as we are concerned, we want to go back to the status quo of April 2020. Thereafter, we will be looking at disengagement, de-escalation and normal management of the LAC,” he said at an interactive session.

“And, this normal management of the LAC will not just stop there. There are phases in that also,” he added.

In almost all the negotiations with China on the border row, India has been insisting on restoration of the status quo ante of that existed before the border standoff erupted in early May of 2020.

“This is what I am saying. This has been our stance since then and even today (it) remains the same. So, as of now, we are trying to restore the trust,” the Army Chief said.

“How trust will be restored. It will get restored once we are able to see each other, and we are able to convince each other, look at the buffer zones which are there, which have been created, we are not creeping,” he said.

“And, both will have to reassure each other,” he said.

The Army chief said resumption of patrolling would give some kind advantage.