China makes another Ladakh incursion: Smashes bunker, takes away camera

Leh: In another incursion, Chinese troops intruded into the Chumar sector in Ladakh–the same area which had sparked off tensions in April–and smashed some bunkers besides cutting wires of cameras installed at the border post. Official sources said today the intrusion took place on 17 June when the troops of China’s People’s Liberation Army(PLA) entered Indian territory in the Chumar sector and started vandalising the observation bunkers besides cutting the wires which overlook the Chinese territory. [caption id=“attachment_942389” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image of Indian army position in Ladakh. Reuters[/caption] Chinese troops transgressed the LAC in Ladakh region last month, barely two months after their incursion resulted in heightened tensions, and took away a surveillance camera, army sources said. The camera was returned after the Indian Army authorities took up the issue with their Chinese counterparts, the sources said. “The matter was resolved at the local level,” said an army source reiterating the perception of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was different among India and China in the sector. According to the sources, the Chinese patrol in Chumar sector in southern Ladakh June 17 took away a camera placed about 6 km ahead of an Indian Army post. It was returned July 3. Chumar, located 300 km from here, has always been an area of discomfort for the Chinese troops as this is the only area along the Sino-Indian border where they do not have any direct access to the Line of Actual Control(LAC). The 21-day face-off between the two sides in the remote Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) sector on April 15 was triggered by construction of an observation tower in Chumar division which had to be subsequently dismantled by the Army on 5 May before the crisis was defused. The Chinese side, according to the minutes of the flag meetings in the last week of March this year, had been objecting to the construction of the watch tower along the LAC in Chumar. After dismantling the observation post and defence bunkers, Army had installed cameras to monitor movement of Chinese troops along the LAC, a step which had irked the PLA. [embedalsosee] Chumar, a remote village on Ladakh-Himachal Pradesh border, is being claimed by China as its own territory. The Chinese side also reportedly resorted to helicopter incursions almost every year. Last year, it dropped some of the soldiers of PLA in this region and dismantled the makeshift storage tents of the Army and ITBP. This area is not accessible from the Chinese side whereas the Indian side has a road almost to the last point on which the Army can carry loads upto nine tonnes. Agencies