Indian-Chinese stand-off in Leh, Army denies 'incursion'

Indian Army has maintained that there have not been any incidents of "incursion" by China

New Delhi, Nov 3: A stand-off was witnessed between Indian and Chinese forces along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), but the Indian Army on Thursday denied any "incursion" by the Chinese troops on Indian side.

According to government sources, a stand-off between Indo-Tibetan Border Police and Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) was witnessed on Wednesday when the Chinese troops objected to some civilian construction work that is going on in Demchok.

Sources however said the Chinese troops stood along the LAC.

China has expressed opposition to certain construction project that are going on on the Indian side.

The Indian Army, while stating there was no "incursion", also said that the issue of construction projects "on both sides" is being sorted out in the Border Personnel Meetings (BPM).

"No Chinese incursion across LAC. Issues relating construction projects on both sides of LAC being resolved in BPM," the Army's Northern Command said in a tweet.

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swarup meanwhile said even if an incident may have happened, it would be resolved through established mechanisms, and added that it should not be "sensationalised".

"I am not specifically aware of any such incident but even if something like this has happened, there are, as you know, established mechanisms to handle such situations as a result of which in the recent past at least our border with China has been free of any major incident. I would urge lets not sensationalise things out of context," he said.

The Indian Defence Ministry and Army have maintained that there have not been any incidents of "incursion" by China, but due to different perceptions of the LAC, transgressions do occur as both sides undertake patrol up to their perception of the LAC.

IANS