New Delhi: Disengagement of troops and verification having been completed at Demchok and Depsang in Ladakh, it was time for Indian Army personnel to celebrate Diwali with Chinese soldiers at several points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
And what better way to ring in the festival of lights and happiness than to distribute sweets.
Exchange of sweets took place at five Border Personnel Meeting (BPM) points along the LAC — Daulat Beg Oldie, Chushul-Moldo meeting point, Hot Spring, KK Pass, Kongkla — reported PTI.
It’s a custom which is followed every year at borders with Pakistan and China. But this year’s bonhomie was special as relations between India and China plummeted since escalation of Chinese engagement at LAC border points in eastern Ladakh in April-May 2020. And when 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a face-off at Galwan Valley in June that year, bilateral relations hit rock bottom.
Multiple rounds of talks at different levels between the two countries finally bore fruit recently as an agreement was reached on disengagement and patrolling at key friction points in Demchok and Depsang Plains along the LAC.
It ended nearly four-and-a-half years of military standoff between the two nations.