‘Small transgressions happen on India-China border’

Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Director General Sanjay Arora on Monday accepted that “small transgression incidents happen periodically” on the India-China border with Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops trying to enter into Indian territory, clarifying “we (ITBP) keep giving them appropriate responses”.

Speaking on the sidelines of the flag off event of the 4th Phase cycle rally being carried out by the ITBP personnel, Arora said that the force “last year showed its preparedness and its capability and that it will serve the nation with the same spirit in future too”. Asked over some media reports regarding transgression of over 100 Chinese troops in Indian territory in August end, Arora said: “ITBP is a border guarding force. Our mandate is to maintain the integrity of the border. We have earlier shown our capabilities. ITBP’s capability and preparedness is satisfactory. At the border, incidents of small transgression happen periodically and we keep giving them appropriate responses.”

The 1988-batch Tamil Nadu cadre IPS officer, however, did not clarify if the report of transgressing of 100 PLA troops was right or wrong. Other ITBP officers confirmed that transgression incidents happen on the India-China border due to differences in perception of the Line of Actual Control in the area. As both India and China do not share a defined and demarcated border, it leads to frequent incursions, said an ITBP officer, requesting anonymity, adding instead, there is the LAC on the border and it stretches thousands of kilometres from Ladakh all the way to Arunachal Pradesh. The ITBP chief expressed his views after flagging off the 4th phase of the cycle rally from the National Police Memorial. This rally covering a total distance of 2,700 km from Gogra (Ladakh) will reach Kevadia (Gujarat) to participate in the National Unity Day Parade on 31 October. The cycle rally started on August 27 from an altitude of 4,500 metres in Ladakh and crossed harsh climatic and terrain conditions, before reaching Manali via Atal Tunnel. The rally crossed some of the very high motorable passes such as Marsimik-La (5,582 metres), Changla (5,319 metres).