Why in news?
The Border tensions between India and China have flared up once again with at least two incidents of violent clashes and stone-pelting taking place between rival troops in Ladakh and Sikkim.
Details
- The clash in eastern Ladakh, in particular, led both India and China to send additional troop reinforcements to the border area.
- The Army played down the two incidents as “temporary and shortduration face-offs” that were resolved by “local commanders as per mutually-accepted protocols” through dialogue and flag meetings.
- Concerns were regarding aggressive patrolling by People’s Liberation Army along the 3,488-km long Line of Actual Control (LAC), stretching from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh.
- The second clash took place at an altitude of over 5,000 metres in the Naku La sector in north Sikkim.
Line of Actual Control
- The Line of Actual Control (LAC) is a demarcation line that separates Indian-controlled territory from Chinese-controlled territory in the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, formed after the 1962 war.
- The LAC is the effective military border which separates Indian controlled areas of Jammu and Kashmir from Aksai Chin.
- It is to be noted that this border is NOT a legally recognised international boundary, but rather it is the practical boundary.
- Conventionally, India considers the Johnson line of 1865, marked by a civil servant W.H. Johnson, which put Aksai Chin in Jammu and Kashmir.
- On the other hand, China recognises the Macartney-Macdonald Line as the actual boundary which puts Aksai Chin in Xinjiang region of China.
-Source: Times of India
