GUWAHATI, Sept 7 - After India and China reached an agreement to pull back troops from the standoff point in Doka-La area, the armed personnel of both the countries are located at least one kilometre away from each other and the Government of India is not apprehending deterioration of the situation in the area, at least in the near future.
Highly placed official sources in New Delhi told The Assam Tribune that following the agreement reached between the two countries, the Chinese troops were pulled back at least half a kilometre away from the standoff point, while, as the Doka-La area is within the territory of Bhutan, the Bhutanese Army personnel are deployed in the border, even as India also pulled back its Army personnel. The distance between the locations of Indian and Chinese army personnel in the area is at least one kilometre. The situation in the area is now quite normal like what it was before the standoff started on June 19.
Sources revealed that the Indian Army has been giving training to Bhutanese Army personnel on specialized warfare for quite some time and the intrusion by the Chinese was noticed during one such joint training exercise and the Indian Army personnel engaged in the training were directed to stay put to prevent the Chinese from gaining control over the Doka-La area, which is strategically important to India�s security. Right now, the Indian troops are pulled back behind the Bhutanese Army. Sources said that the Indian Army has been giving training to Bhutanese Army for quite some time and that is why, an officer of the rank of Major General has been posted in Thimphu.
Official sources said that normal incursions by the Chinese troops during patrolling along the international border are common and there have also been a number of instances of troops of both sides engaging in physical combat. But fortunately, such physical combats do not turn into use of weapons. Such incursions cannot be avoided till the international boundary is properly demarcated and on most occasions, such issues are resolved by the troops at the local level. If the issues cannot be resolved at the local level, sector commanders either meet or speak over phones to try and resolve the problems. For such meetings, border personnel�s meeting huts have also been created in a few places along the international border, including one in Bumla in Arunachal Pradesh.
However, if the issues cannot be resolved even in the sector commander level, only them the Governments of the two countries get into the act and try to resolve it through diplomatic channels. The same was the case in Doka-La as the problem could not be resolved by the troops, more so because the area under question falls under Bhutan. That is why, India had to use all its diplomatic channels while maintaining a tough stand on the ground to resolve the crisis. Sources pointed out that during the standoff period, China was frequently using its state controlled media to issue statements and even threatening a war, while, India refrained from making such statements and tried to solve the problems diplomatically, which yielded the desired results.
