Three firing incidents between India and China in last 20 days in Eastern Ladakh

Having gone 45 years without a bullet being fired along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), India and China had at least three firing incidents between their troops in Eastern Ladakh in the last 20 days over the ongoing territorial dispute. "The first incident happened when the Indian Army preempted the Chinese attempt to occupy heights near Southern Bank of Pangong lake between August 29-31 while the second incident occurred near Mukhpari height on September 7," Army sources said. In the third incident, which occurred on September 8 near the northern bank of Pangong lake, troops of both sides fired more than 100 rounds as the Chinese side was behaving in a very aggressive manner, Army sources said. The incident had taken place at a time when the Indian Foreign Minister, S Jaishankar, was in Moscow for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting, where he met his Chinese counterpart to address the border issues. As per discussions, the two sides were supposed to hold Corps Commander-level talks but the date and time have not yet been confirmed by the Chinese side, so far. India and China have held multiple rounds of talks since April-May at both military and diplomatic levels but it has not yielded any significant results till now. The two countries have been engaged in a standoff since April-May this year after transgressions by the Chinese Army in Kongrung Nala, Gogra, and Finger area near Pangong lake. Indian Army has now upped its preparedness manifold in the Ladakh sector to take on any aggressive moves by the Chinese Army there.