Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat has said that Chinese troops forayed into the Chamoli district recently. This information seems to confirm statements by the Indian Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) which had reported the incursion a week ago.
Harish Rawat told news agency ANI that the Chinese incursion was discovered after some state officials had gone to measure and map the revenue district. Rawat said that the troops did not trespass over an important canal in the area. "I am sure the central government will take cognizance of the issue," said Rawat.
ITBP, who had confirmed Rawat's statements, had sent a report about this incident to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on July 19, the date of incursion.
Similar incursions have occurred along the 350 Km long border shared between China and the state of Uttarakhand. Past reports indicated that Chinese troops had entered the area and scribbled the word 'China' on rocks near Mana Pass in Chamoli.
Indo-China relations have been on a downward spiral recently, beginning with China's opposition to India's bid for membership of the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG), followed by India's hasty diplomatic comments on the South Sea China dispute.
In more recent and direct manifestation of souring relations in the past month, the Indian government expelled three journalists of the Chinese official news agency, Xinhua from Delhi and the Indian Army also deployed over 100 Russian tanks T-72 to Ladakh.
Opposition leader Mallikarjun K harge criticized the Centre for having poor relationships with both China and Pakistan.
BJP leader RK Singh, while defending the Central government, said that China is to blame as it is not cooperating with India to define the Line of Actual Control.
