India, China have a very good understanding: ITBP chief

We patrol more in disputed areas along the LAC, says Deswal

The Director-General of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), S.S. Deswal, on Wednesday noted that national security should be delinked from diplomatic events, and said that the force had been “over-dominating” in patrolling in the disputed pockets along the China border in comparison with the Chinese troops.

So far, 200 ITBP personnel have been trained in Mandarin for better interaction with Chinese troops, Mr. Deswal told presspersons.

The ITBP is deployed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, spanning 3,488 km. There are five pockets, three in Ladakh, one each in Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh, that are not well defined and the territories are claimed by both the countries.

The force’s capacity to reach “zero points” along the China border had increased manifold in the past five years due to the creation of 25 additional border outposts (BOPs) and the construction of roads and other infrastructure.

Mr. Deswal said they had maintained “status quo” at the LAC for the past 57 years. “India and China have very good understanding, well-understood and agreed mechanism to find solutions to all issues arising at the border. There is difference in perception of incursion, claims and counterclaims by our counterparts. There is not even a single pocket where they patrol and we do not. In disputed pockets, we patrol more; in fact we overdominate in these areas,” he said.

Construction of roads

Construction of roads in the tough terrain was in full swing, and in the first phase, 11 roads, totalling 270 km, had been completed. In the second phase, 45 roads with a length of 1,033 km would be completed in the coming months.

“We are also upgrading our surveillance technology on the border,” he said.

Asked if any standoff was reported between the two sides after the informal summit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, he said, “Our level of guard does not depend on diplomatic events. We should delink national security from diplomatic events.”