China exploiting ambiguity over LAC.....

Reacting to reports that China has incrementally occupied nearly 640 square km of area on the Line of  Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh and the National Security Advisory Board Member Shyam Saran having  confirmed that China has also stopped Indian troops from patrolling at the  LAC, BJP National Executive Member & J&K Chief Spokesperson,Dr Jitendra Singh said here today that this is an outcome of India's failure to perceive China's well-planned policy to exploit ambiguity over the LAC which has been perpetuated by successive Congress governments in New Delhi beginning from the first Congress government headed by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and unfortunately even today, despite frequent recent incursions by Chinese,the present UPA government led by Congress is making no determined effort to redeem this ambiguity.

Dr Jitendra Singh went on to explain that the LAC,also known as the MacCartney-MacDonald Line, is an assumed border between India and the People's Republic of China.He further elaborated,the LAC is 4,057-km long and traverses three areas of northern Indian states: western (Ladakh,Kashmir), middle (Uttarakhand,Himachal) and eastern (Sikkim,Arunachal) and added that the phrase "LAC" was coined by the then Chinese Prime Minister Zhou en Lai who used it for the first time in a letter dated 24 October 1959 addressed to his Indian counterpart Jawaharlal Nehru.Unfortunately,he said,neither Nehru nor successive Congress governments in New Delhi took a serious cognizance of it except for a solitary occasion soon after the China attack in 1962 when Nehru,under pressure from Opposition,felt constrained to state "What is this 'line of control'? Is this the line they {Chinese) have created by aggression?... "

Alleging that there were no lessons learnt even after 1962,Dr Jitendra Singh said the term "LAC" was allowed to gain legal recognition through Sino-Indian agreements signed in 1993 and 1996. He quoted the 1996 agreement which stated, "No activities of either side shall overstep the line of actual control(LAC)".

Inspite of all these agreements,Dr Jitendra Singh said  the Chinese continue to revel in ambiguity over LAC and even after the three week standoff between Indian and Chinese troops 30 km southeast of Daulat Beg Oldi earlier this year, the Chinese troops are regularly intruding into Indian territory and also committing human rights violation by causing fear among the local population on Indian side.

Dr Jitendra Singh called upon the UPA government to come out with a policy document with regard to China and restore the confidence of Indian nation which is weary of Government's soft diplomacy leading to enhanced vulnerability.

S/D

Secretary