"Seems To Have Washed Its Hands," Congress On MEA's Response To Shepherd Incident In Ladakh (Photo on X Konchok Stanzin @kstanzinladakh)
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh today (Friday) issued a statement against India’s External Affairs Ministry’s alleged weak response to a recent incident in the Kakjung area of Ladakh. A video on social media recently showed the Chinese troops preventing the Indian shepherds in the Kakjung area arguing that the area belongs to China. The shepherds while confronting the chinese soldiers reportedly pelted stones at them.
The absence of Indian troops in the area had reportedly raised concern as it occurred in an area with at least 26 out of 65 PPs in eastern Ladakh. After the clash that happened in 2020 June with China, resulting in the loss of 20 soldiers” lives, Indian troops have not been patrolled there since 2020, April.
The Congress leader while sharing the statement on his social media platform X, said that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) appears to have washed its hands off the very recent grazier episode on the country”s border with China in Ladakh. “It has passed the buck on to the Home Ministry.”
Citing the MEA spokesperson response towards the grazier episode stating that it will deal with any spat, controversy, or dispute with the established mechanism, the Congress in its statement said: “Regarding established mechanisms, we have seen how the Modi government has failed to prevent the Chinese from denying our troops and graziers access to 2,000 square kilometres of territory in eastern Ladakh for the past four years, despite 18 rounds of military talks.”
Referring to the incident that happened near Patrolling Points (PPs) 35 and 36 at Kakjung under the Nyoma constituency in Ladakh, the MEA spokesperson had responded saying that both countries are well aware of their respective traditional grazing zone. “Any spat, controversy, or dispute is dealt with the established mechanism.”
The statement further held the Home Ministry accountable for the incident, noting that It is the responsibility of the Home Ministry to ensure that Indian graziers are able to exercise their rights as citizens inside Indian territory as the Border management comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The statement also demanded answers to three questions. It asked the MEA to reveal the number of incidents in which Indian graziers were pushed back by Chinese border guards within our perception of the LAC. The statement then asked if any graziers suffered any injuries or material losses in their clash with Chinese troops. Referring to the absence of Indian troops in the area, the statement further asked if there are effort to protect graziers from the harassment. “Or are they forced to defend themselves with no support from the ITBP as it appeared in the video?” it added.
