Will try to go beyond disengagement: Rajnath Singh on India-China border truce

New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said that the process of disengagement of Indian and Chinese forces near the Line of Actual Control is ‘almost complete’, NDTV reported.

Giving more details of the process the minister said that a broad consensus was developed based on ‘equal and mutual security’ following talks at diplomatic and military levels.

‘The consensus includes the rights of patrolling and grazing in traditional areas. Based on this consensus, the process of disengagement is almost complete. Our efforts will be to take the matter beyond disengagement; but for that, we will have to wait a little longer,’ he was quoted as saying.

As part of celebrating the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Defence Minister dedicated to the nation a statue of India’s first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister at Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.

Singh also opened the Major Ralengnao 'Bob' Khathing 'Museum of Valour' from the Army headquarters in Assam's Tezpur after bad weather made his journey to Tawang difficult.

Paying glowing tribute to Sardar Patel for his role in unifying over 560 princely states after Independence, Singh said the statue 'Desh Ka Vallabh' will remind people of the unwavering spirit required in building a nation as diverse as India.

India and China last week made a patrolling agreement to ease tension at the LAC, requiring both countries to ‘fall back to their pre-April 2020 positions’.

Both countries can continue with surveillance in Depsang and Demchok, requiring them to inform each other before beginning the patrol in order to avoid ‘any miscommunication’.

The agreement was announced hours before PM Modi met China's President Xi Jinping during the BRICS summit in Russia.