Even as the Indian and Chinese troops are in a standoff along the Sikkim border, Indian officials have reported a transgression by the Chinese border troops along the Uttarakhand border.
According to officials, on July 25, Chinese border guards came almost a kilometre inside the Indian territory, from the border claimed by New Delhi in the Barahoti area of Chamoli district
Troops returned
The guards also asked a group of local shepherds grazing cattle to vacate the area, sources said.
By the time the local people alerted nearby Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP) troops and they reached the spot, the Chinese troops had gone back, they said.
“It was a minor transgression, and it happens regularly during summer, because of our differing border perceptions,” a senior Army officer said. Barahoti is one of the rare areas in the Middle Sector that sees regular transgressions because of difference of perception over the border between the two sides. Last year, around the same time when people reported Chinese troops, local authorities were rushed to the spot where Chinese had come in a vehicle. There have been occasional reports of Chinese helicopters violating the border.
Local issue: officials
A senior government source said such incidents had happened in the past, “but are normally sorted out locally and should not be given undue importance”. The transgression gains significance against the background of the ongoing standoff between the Indian and Chinese troops in the Doklam area, where for over a month now the two sides are on a standoff after Chinese began constructing a road, and India objected to it.
