19 'sensitive' spots from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh on China incursion threat list

According to the intelligence, these spots could witness transgression by the PLA once snow starts melting during summer, said an ITBP official

Imran Ahmed Siddiqui, TT,  New Delhi, 14.04.24: The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in its internal report has identified 19 “sensitive” spots along the China frontier from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh which are likely to witness incursion by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army during summer, sources in the border guarding force on Saturday told The Telegraph.

“The report has been prepared with inputs taken from the force’s intelligence wing. We are already in the process of sending additional reinforcement to these high-altitude 19 sensitive spots to fortify our positions,” said an ITBP official.

“According to the intelligence, these spots could witness transgression by the PLA once snow starts melting during summer,” he said.

The Indian and Chinese armies have been locked in a border standoff in eastern Ladakh since May 2020 where the PLA is said to have altered the unmarked LAC and is

estimated to have taken over nearly 1,000sqkm of India-claimed territory.

The army and ITBP, the official said, are building new border posts and are also bolstering operational and infrastructure capabilities at these sensitive spots to prevent any possible incursion.

ITBP, which guards the 3,488-km-long China frontier that runs along Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh, is the first line of defence while the army remains stationed behind it.

The PLA had in the past attempted transgressions in some of these 19 spots.

“The ground situation in eastern Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh is very tense.

The army and ITBP are keeping a tight vigil with surveillance cameras at forward border posts in high-altitude areas,” another ITBP official said.

Last month, the Centre had asked central intelligence agencies to deploy more intelligence officials along the LAC to keep an eye on the brazen aggression shown by the PLA amid frequent border skirmishes and transgression bids by them.

The central security agencies have been asked to deploy more intelligence officials to help ITBP keep a close watch on the PLA’s activities along the LAC. The input from central agencies is likely to help ITBP in curbing any transgression bid by the Chinese troops who often infiltrate into the Indian side along the disputed LAC.

Both sides often accuse each other of transgression and intrusion because of differences in perception of the LAC but such incidents come down drastically during winters in the snow-covered Himalayan region.

Intelligence reports have also alerted how the PLA has been increasingly coming deeper into India-claimed territory to transgress into the country.

Amid the ongoing military standoff in Ladakh, the PLA had attempted incursions in Arunachal Pradesh’s Yangtze in the Tawang sector in December 2022 leading to a clash between the troops of the two nations that had left around 20 Indian soldiers injured. The clash occurred after over 500 Chinese troops crossed the LAC and started vandalising Indian military posts. The Indian army, however, foiled the transgression bid.