Border stand-off ends; Indian, Chinese working mechanism to meet

The border stand-off between India and China has ended with withdrawal of troops to their previous positions and the two sides deciding to hold a meeting of their joint working mechanism on border affairs Oct 16-17.

An external affairs ministry release said that border commanders of India and China had met Tuesday to confirm that the stand-off between the border troops of two countries in Chumar and Demchok areas of Ladakh had been "successfully terminated".

It said that the two sides had carried out disengagement and redeployment of border troops in Chumar and Demchok areas in eastern Ladakh on Sep 26-27 "to restore the status quo ante as on Sep 1, 2014."

"A meeting of the border commanders of the two sides was held in the afternoon of Sep 30 at Spanggur Gap to confirm that the stand-off between the border troops of two sides in Chumar and Demchok areas has been successfully terminated," the release added.

It said that the two sides have also agreed that a meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) will be convened in India on Oct 16-17 to discuss various issues pertaining to the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas.

The Chinese troops had started pulling out of Chumar last week soon after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj stated that the standoff between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) had ended.

Sushma Swaraj had met Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi in New York.

The two armies were engaged in an eyeball-to-eyeball situation at Chumar which also cast a shadow on the first visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to India.