Table of Contents
- Situated at over 14,000 feet, Pangong Tso or Pangong Lake is about 135 km long.
- The Line of Actual Control (LAC) – the line that separates Indian and Chinese troops since 1962 – generally runs along the land except for the width of Pangong Tso. Here it runs through water.
- India has maintained that the LAC passes through Finger 8, which has been the site of the final military post of China.
- But Indian forces have not had active control beyond Finger 4.
- China, on the other hand, says the LAC passes through Finger 2. It has been patrolling up to Finger 4- mostly in light vehicles, and at times up to Finger 2.
- Pangong Tso is strategically crucial as it is very close to Chusul Valley.
- “China took the lake, from the general area of Khurnak fort, where the international border runs, up to Sirijap in 1962. Basically up to Finger 8. Now, they have taken the area from Finger 8 to Finger 4, and they are not allowing us to patrol up to the LAC,”
- The situation at Pangong Tso, the site of the other ongoing standoff between India and China, has taken a serious turn with Chinese troops using the six-week period to fortify defences that may be difficult to dismantle, if and when talks take place on a pullback.
- While all the attention has been on Galwan Valley, the Chinese have quietly built big, seemingly permanent, structures in the area between Fingers 4 and 8 in Pangong Tso.
All After May 5
- Ground reports as well as fresh satellite images available with the armed forces show that after occupying the area up to the feature called Finger 4 — located more than 5 km inside India’s perception of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) — in early May, the Chinese side has carried out a big construction project that includes several new structures.
- All these constructions, sources said, have been carried out in just over a month, after a clash on the night of May 5, when an Indian patrol party was stopped by the Chinese from crossing Finger 4, resulting in injuries to soldiers on both sides.
Chinese Defences are on Heights
- What has got security agencies concerned are the new defences on the heights near Finger 4, which allow Chinese troops to dominate the entire area, making it difficult for Indian forces to operate or patrol in the vicinity.
- Latest images show that this beach area has now been converted into a marina, with boat sheds and administrative camps.
- India’s access to the beach along the lake has been blocked with at least two fortified structures.
- A metalled road has also been constructed.
Route Blocked
- New structures would block any possibility of Indian troops crossing the Finger 4 bend along the lake — the traditional route used for patrolling. Also, a series of bunkers have been constructed on the ridge along Finger 4, which gives the Chinese side a dominant view — and, potentially, firing range — over the Indian side of the Finger Area.
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