India has taken control of strategic heights at the north bank of the Pangong Lake in eastern Ladakh, sources told CNN-News18 on Wednesday, hours after it emerged that the Indian Army has also captured critical heights south of the lake.
Sources said Indian soldiers are now face to face with the Chinese who also have a presence at the same ridge line.
Sources also denied reports of Indian troops occupying heights at Finger 4. “As part of the precautionary deployment carried out on August 30, some readjustments of our positions on north bank of Pangong Lake on our side of LAC had also been carried out,” a source said.
The development comes after the Indian Army thwarted China’s attempt to change the status quo on the southern bank and captured critical all positions and posts in the Ridge area.
“We haven’t entered their (Chinese) location, but dominated our posts. We are in dominating position (on southern bank) at this point,” another source had told News18 earlier in the day.
China has denied that it started the latest flare-up, with an embassy spokeswoman in New Delhi accusing Indian troops of trespassing across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) – the de facto border – and conducting “flagrant provocations”.
Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a border confrontation for months in the high-altitude snow deserts of Ladakh, and have held talks to reduce friction. The two have disputed the course of the frontier for over half a century.
In June, 20 Indian soldiers were killed in hand-to-hand combat with Chinese troops in Ladakh’s Galwan area, the most serious clash between the two countries in 50 years.
Both sides then agreed to pull back with military chiefs in the region holding five rounds of talks. But the Indian military said this week Beijing had reneged on the deal by carrying out “provocative military movements to change the status quo”.
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