An incident of firing took place on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh sector where troops of India and China have been engaged in a stand-off for over three months, sources said on Tuesday.
The Indian Army said at no stage had it “transgressed the Line of Actual Control (LAC) or resorted to use of any aggressive means, including firing”. The statement by Army spokesperson Col Aman Anand was issued hours after the People’s Liberation Army of China claimed Indian troops had fired warning shots, prompting it to “take counter-measures to stabilise the situation on the ground” at Pangong Tso in Ladakh.
The Indian Army said it was PLA troops who “were attempting to close-in with one of our forward positions along the LAC”, but when dissuaded, had “fired a few rounds in the air in an attempt to intimidate (Indian) troops”. The statement added that “despite the grave provocation, (Indian) troops exercised great restraint and behaved in a mature and responsible manner”.
The PLA statement late Monday night came days after Indian troops thwarted Chinese manoeuvres and occupied strategic heights on the south bank of Pangong Tso and Rechin La. Colonel Zhang Shuili, spokesperson for the PLA Western Theatre Command, claimed the Indian Army “crossed the line and entered Bangong Hunan, the western section of the Sino-Indian border” and the “Indian actions seriously violated the relevant agreements and agreements between China and India, pushing up regional tensions, and easily causing misunderstandings and misjudgments.”
