As the intruding Chinese soldiers refuse to budge from their occupied position in Daulat Beg Oldi(DBO) sector in Ladakh, two Chinese military helicopters have violated Indian airspace at Chumar, several hundred kilometres southeast of Leh, adding to the prevailing tension. The Chinese choppers entered the Indian airspace on April 21 and hovered over the area for quite sometime and returned after dropping some food cans, cigarette packets and notes written in their local language, official sources said today.
The incident happened five days after a platoon-strength contingent of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had come 10km inside the Indian territory in Burthe in the DBO sector on the night of April 15 and established a tented post there.
Chumar, which is about 300km from Leh, provides another access to Aksai Chin, an area which is under illegal occupation of China, besides from DBO.
After the incursion incident, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the border guarding force, has beefed up its strength in the area and Army from the nearby location had increased its surveillance.
Last September, Chinese helicopters flew over Chumar with some of its troops even getting onto the ground. The troops destroyed bunkers and old tents of the Indian Army before returning to their own air space. The situation in the DBO sector, meanwhile, continued to remain tense with the PLA personnel, who have come with some dogs and vehicles, refusing to budge from the area.
–PTi