Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) shakes hands with Nepalese Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli inside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China. — AP/PTI photo

Beijing, October 13

Superior infrastructure in Tibet will provide China an “upper hand” over India by being a “gateway” to Nepal and Bangladesh for greater trade and investments, Chinese media said on Thursday.

“The competition of China and India over building railways in Nepal will influence the future development of Nepal and Bangladesh. It will also bring more challenges to Tibet,” an article in the state-run Global Times here said.

“In the next decade, if India continues on its high growth track and speeds up the development of infrastructure and manufacturing, this will impose multi-dimensional pressure on China, of which Tibet will bear the brunt,” it said.

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Fortunately, as the central government has attached great importance and offered considerable support to the region, “Tibet has gained the upper hand over India in terms of infrastructure development and has established sound economic cooperation relations with neighbouring provinces and cities”, it said.

How to further open up Tibet exploit its advantages over India to deal with challenges and exercise an influence over the region while maintaining Tibet’s stability needs policy support, it said.

“It also requires coordination among all western provinces, cities and autonomous regions,” it said.

India and Nepal are linked by comparatively good roads.

For years, India has occupied 60 to 70 per cent of Nepal’s total trade while China has only 10 per cent.

During his visit to India, Nepal’s new Prime Minister Prachanda revealed that the two countries would discuss the possibility of India helping build a railway connecting Mechi and Mahakali, it said.

“If this comes true, a network not only connecting India, but also Tibet and Bangladesh will be formed,” it said.

The article said Tibet is emerging as an important part of the China-initiated “One Belt and One Road” (Silk Road) initiative.

“Geographically, as a hub of critical value in connecting China and South Asia, the autonomous region is playing an increasingly important role in regional networks with the acceleration of India’s development and the boosting of Sino-Indian economic relations,” it said.

“Over 200 km northeast of Bhairawa, a Nepali city close to the border with India, is Nepal’s capital Kathmandu. 100 kilometers northward from Kathmandu is Kodari, a border crossing from Nepal into China. The three cities make up one of the most important passageways connecting China and the Indian Subcontinent,” it said.

The other side of the border from Kodari is Zhangmu, a Chinese customs town and port of entry in Tibet.

The town accounts for around 82 per cent of bilateral trade between China and Nepal and 90 per cent of that between Tibet and Nepal, it said.  — PTI
Read more at http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/tibet-gives-upper-hand-to-china-over-india-chinese-media/309001.html#yMJKDyCbKWehvmjw.99

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, November 12

A soldier was killed and another injured in ceasefire violation by Pakistan troops in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district  during the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. The latest ceasefire breach took place in Keran sector with Pakistani soldiers opening fire at three Indian posts and a civilian area.“Two soldiers were injured. One of them with a splinter injury succumbed to his injuries,” sources said. The slain soldier was identified as Sepoy Harsit Bhaadouria of Thikariya Banswara village in Rajasthan and the injured as Mankamla. “Two houses were partially damaged in the Pakistani shelling in Keran,” a police official told the media.    Defence sources said the Pakistani Army used 120 mm and 82 mm mortars, automatic weapons and small arms to target Indian posts. There have been more than 100 incidents of ceasefire violation by Pakistan along the LoC after the surgical strikes by the Indian Army across the LoC on September 29. At least 12 jawans of the Army and the BSF have been killed during these ceasefire violations.On November 9, a soldier was killed in sniper fire in the Machil sector of Kupwara district. In the same sector on October 28, a soldier was killed and his body mutilated. A militant too was shot. A BSF jawan was killed on the same night.

52 dead in Pak shrine blast, IS claims attack

Karachi, November 12

At least 52 persons, including women and children, were killed and more than 100 others injured today in a suicide bombing at a popular Sufi shrine in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, an attack claimed by the Islamic State terror group.The blast occurred in the remote Hub region in Khuzdar district of the province while devotees were participating in a Sufi dance called “dhamaal” at Dargah Shah Noorani.At least 52 persons were killed and more than 100 have been injured in the blast, rescue officials said.While confirming the death toll, Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said ambulances and rescue teams had rushed to site.The target of the attack was the area where devotees perform ‘dhamaal’. The blast site is situated some 250 km away from Karachi.The blast happened when about 500 to 600 devotees were present at shrine.Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack via Amaq news agency. The Express Tribune quoted police sources as saying that the blast was a suicide attack carried out by a 14-year-old boy.Rescue teams reached the blast site and started shifting the deceased and injured to the hospital. However, rescuers were facing difficulty in accessing the site as the shrine is located in a remote area. The death toll is feared to rise and women and children were among those killed in the blast.“The shrine is located some 250 km from Karachi in the remote mountains of Uthal and our vehicles have been dispatched there to carry out rescue operations and shift the injured to the hospitals,” said Hakeen Lassi, an official of the Edhi Trust Foundation.Local tehsildar Javed Iqbal said security arrangements at the shrine were not proper.“It is sad that although thousands of devotees from Karachi and other parts of the country visit the shrine everyday but there are no medical emergency facilities or ambulances at the site,” he said. — PTI

Killer teenager

• The attack was carried out by a 14-year-old boy while devotees were participating in a Sufi dance called ‘dhamaal’
• This is the third major incident of a bomb going off in Balochistan province since August
• In October, 64 cadets were killed when three terrorists raided a police training centre in Quetta
• In August, nearly 70 persons died in a suicide bomb attack at a civil hospital in Quetta

Army officials dealing with the SF said that even this proposal is a short-term measure to overcome urgent gaps and does not ameliorate the poor equipment state of the forces. (representative image; source: AP)

The Special Forces (SF) operatives, who took part in the surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) to destroy seven terrorist launch pads 11 days ago, used weapons that should have been replaced with modern options following Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s instructions last June.

But the delay in implementing the procurement, estimated to be in the range of Rs 180 crore, meant that these para commandos had to make do with old-generation weapons during the strikes on September 29 — 15 months after Parrikar had ordered that the modernisation should proceed on a “fast-track basis”.

According to officials, the modernisation proposal was flagged by the Army during a presentation made to Parrikar following the cross-border operation in Myanmar by the 21 SF battalion last June, days after the attack in Manipur by suspected NSCN-K militants that killed 18 soldiers.

An Army officer told The Indian Express that the idea “was to procure certain weapons urgently for the SF if another Myanmar-like operation was to be carried out”.

For instance, if the modernisation plan had fructified, the para commandos of 4 SF and

9 SF battalions, who conducted the surgical strikes last month, would have used a more modern and lightweight rocket-launcher instead of the three-decade-old Carl Gustav 84-mm version.

The proposal for SF modernisation was prepared by the Military Operations directorate, after consultations with the Special Forces Training School, SF battalions and other stakeholders. It involves buying six types of weapons: 1,200 modern personal automatic rifles, 36 sniper rifles, 36 automatic GPMGs (General Purpose Machine Guns), 24 lightweight rocket-launchers, 24 shotguns and 500 pistols. All the weapons, to be equipped with day and night sights, would have to be imported.

“None of our SF battalions has a GPMG, which has been authorised for us. We are either using MMGs (Medium Machine Guns) like the infantry battalions or PIKA guns. The Tavor rifle that we use is 5.56mm, whereas we need a 7.62mm weapon for anti-terrorist operations. We also have a restriction on ammunition for training. There is a shortage of underwater diving equipment and free-fall parachutes,” said an official.

“For example, we need 12,000 free-fall parachutes but have only 400-odd whose shelf life is about to get over. The OFB (Ordnance Factory Board) has not been able to make them, and a dozen parachutes have been bought from the Army Commanders’ Special Powers Fund,” he said.

Army officials dealing with the SF said that even this proposal is a short-term measure to overcome urgent gaps and does not ameliorate the poor equipment state of the forces. Officials said that instead of identifying specific makes of these weapons, qualitative requirements had been finalised so that the identified weapons could be procured without going through the standard four-year procurement process.

According to officials, the defence ministry decided to process the proposal after the new Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) was promulgated this June. But the process hasn’t been initiated by the Army so far.

Defence ministry sources said that they “wanted to use the SF equipment as a test-case for fast-track procurement under the new DPP. The new DPP has been notified in June, and this case will move on a fast-track basis. We are hoping to get a proposal from the Army soon.”

When contacted by The Indian Express, the Army headquarters and the Ministry of Defence declined to comment. Sources in the Army said that this case is one of the many modernisation plans and is in the final stages of preparation.

ਪਾਲ ਸਿੰਘ ਨੌਲੀ
ਜਲੰਧਰ, 8 ਅਕਤੂਬਰ
ਪੰਜਾਬ ਪ੍ਰਦੇਸ਼ ਕਾਂਗਰਸ ਕਮੇਟੀ ਦੇ ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ ਕੈਪਟਨ ਅਮਰਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਨੇ ਝੋਨਾ ਖਰੀਦਣ ਦੇ ਮਾਮਲੇ ਵਿੱਚ ਕੇਂਦਰ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਨਾਲ ਪੱਖਪਾਤ ਕਰਨ ਦਾ ਦੋਸ਼ ਲਾਉਂਦਿਆਂ ਕਿਹਾ ਕਿ ਨਮੀ ਦੇ ਮਾਮਲੇ ਵਿੱਚ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਨਾਲੋਂ ਹਰਿਆਣਾ ਨੂੰ ਵੱਧ ਛੋਟ ਦਿੱਤੀ ਜਾ ਰਹੀ ਹੈ ਜਦਕਿ ਮੁੱਖ ਮੰਤਰੀ ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ ਸਿੰਘ ਬਾਦਲ ਇਸ ਸੰਵੇਦਨਸ਼ੀਲ ਮੁੱਦੇ ’ਤੇ ਚੁੱਪ ਧਾਰ ਕੇ ਬੈਠੇ ਹੋਏ ਹਨ। ਕੈਪਟਨ ਅੱਜ ਇੱਥੇ ਦੇਸ਼ ਭਗਤ ਯਾਦਗਾਰ ਹਾਲ ਵਿੱਚ ਐਕਸ-ਸਰਵਿਸਮੈਨ ਦੀ ਮੀਟਿੰਗ ਤੋਂ ਬਾਅਦ ਪੱਤਰਕਾਰਾਂ ਨਾਲ ਗੱਲਬਾਤ ਕਰ ਰਹੇ ਸਨ। ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਕਿਹਾ ਕਿ ਕੇਂਦਰ ਦੀ ਮੋਦੀ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਨਾਲ ਹਰ ਥਾਂ ਵਿਤਕਰਾ ਕਰ ਰਹੀ ਹੈ ਤੇ ਝੋਨੇ ਦੀ ਖ਼ਰੀਦ ਵਿੱਚ ਐਫਸੀਆਈ ਨੇ ਹਰਿਆਣਾ ਨੂੰ ਤਾਂ 21 ਫ਼ੀਸਦ ਤੱਕ ਨਮੀ ਦੀ ਛੋਟ ਦਿੱਤੀ ਹੋਈ ਹੈ ਜਦਕਿ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੇ ਕਿਸਾਨਾਂ ਦਾ ਝੋਨਾ 17 ਫ਼ੀਸਦ ਨਮੀ ਵਾਲਾ ਖਰੀਦਿਆ ਜਾ ਰਿਹਾ ਹੈ। ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਕਿਹਾ ਕਿ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਵਿੱਚ ਭਾਜਪਾ ਵੀ ਸੱਤਾ ਵਿੱਚ ਭਾਈਵਾਲ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਉਹ ਵੀ ਇਸ ਮਾਮਲੇ ’ਤੇ ਚੁੱਪ ਬੈਠੀ ਹੈ।  ਕੈਪਟਨ ਨੇ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਵਿੱਚ ਹੋਏ 32 ਹਜ਼ਾਰ ਕਰੋੜ ਰੁਪਏ ਦੇ ਘੁਟਾਲੇ ਲਈ ਮੁੱਖ ਮੰਤਰੀ ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ ਸਿੰਘ ਬਾਦਲ ’ਤੇ ਦੋਸ਼ ਲਾਇਆ ਕਿ ਇਸ ਦੀ ਸੀਬੀਆਈ ਤੋਂ ਜਾਂਚ ਕਰਵਾਈ ਜਾਵੇ। ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਖ਼ੁਲਾਸਾ ਕੀਤਾ ਕਿ ਸੂਬਾ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਖ਼ੁਦ ਕਬੂਲ ਕਰ ਚੁੱਕੀ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਅਨਾਜ ਗਾਇਬ ਹੈ। ਅਜਿਹੇ ਵਿੱਚ ਮੁੱਖ ਮੰਤਰੀ ਨੂੰ ਜਵਾਬਦੇਹ ਬਣਾਇਆ ਜਾਣਾ ਚਾਹੀਦਾ ਹੈ।
ਕੈਪਟਨ ਨੇ ਸਰਹੱਦੀ ਪਿੰਡਾਂ ਦੇ 10 ਹਜ਼ਾਰ ਤੋਂ ਵੱਧ ਲੋਕਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਦੇ ਘਰ ਖਾਲੀ ਕਰਵਾ ਕੇ ਪ੍ਰੇਸ਼ਾਨ ਕਰਨ ਵਾਲੀ ਅਕਾਲੀ-ਭਾਜਪਾ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਦੀ ਨਿੰਦਾ ਕੀਤੀ। ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਦੋਸ਼ ਲਾਇਆ ਕਿ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਬਾਦਲ ਨੇ ਸਰਹੱਦੀ ਪਿੰਡਾਂ ’ਚ ਜੰਗ ਹੋਣ ਦਾ ਡਰ ਦਿਖਾ ਕੇ ਆਪਣੇ ਭਾਈਵਾਲ ਭਾਜਪਾ ਨੂੰ  ਉਤਰ ਪ੍ਰਦੇਸ਼ ਵਿੱਚ ਸਿਆਸੀ ਲਾਭ ਪਹੁੰਚਾਉਣ ਦੀ ਕੋਝੀ ਸ਼ਰਾਰਤ ਕੀਤੀ ਹੈ। ਇਸ ਲਈ ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਲੋਕਾਂ ਕੋਲੋਂ ਮੁਆਫੀ ਮੰਗਣੀ ਚਾਹੀਦੀ ਹੈ। ਕੈਪਟਨ ਅਮਰਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਨੇ ਕੈਲੇਫੋਰਨੀਆ ਵਿੱਚ ਸਿੱਖ ਉਪਰ ਨਸਲੀ ਹਮਲੇ ਦੀ ਨਿੰਦਾ ਕੀਤੀ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਵਿਦੇਸ਼ਾਂ ’ਚ ਵੱਸਣ ਵਾਲੇ ਪੰਜਾਬੀਆਂ ਨੂੰ ਪੂਰੀ ਸੁਰੱਖਿਆ ਮੁਹੱਈਆ ਕਰਵਾਏ ਜਾਣ ਦੀ ਮੰਗ ਕੀਤੀ ਹੈ।

Pune, November 7

Alleging there was “negligence and lack of communication” on part of the Air Force, the parents of Flt Lt Kunal Barpatte, who was on board AN-32 aircraft which went missing along with 28 others on July 22 off Chennai coast, today said the IAF has not given the exact status information of the search operations.“The aircraft has gone missing along with six crew members and 23 defence personnel for over 100 days now. The Air Force is not providing exact status and details of the search operations,” Kunal’s father Rajendra told reporters here. Kunal was the navigator on the aircraft that went missing.“As parents of Kunal, we feel that it is a prime responsibility of the Air Force to provide factual information to the affected families,” he said in the presence of his wife Vidya.Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had visited the Barpatte family here and assured them of all support.Rajendra said recently they received a letter from the Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Air Force headquarters in New Delhi, seeking consent for “presumption of demise”.“It is IAF which should declare about their demise. Why are they (IAF) seeking consent from us when they know everything about the operation,” he said. He alleged the Air Force was showing “negligence and lack of communication in the matter”.“All the families are in follow up with the IAF on search operation. However, sadly there are no updates and the authorities have almost concluded the search operations despite the fact that wreckage is still not salvaged.” — PTI

It was expected that political peace reached at the national level over the September 29 anti-terror strikes would not last long but given the high-stakes elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, it has ended disappointingly a bit too soon. All sides share the blame. The BJP is trying to market the army’s achievement as Narendra Modi’s in Uttar Pradesh. It has put up posters portraying Modi as Lord Rama and Nawaz Sharif as Ravana while Arvind Kejriwal has been shown as Meghanad. The Modi glorification and the public felicitation of Defence Minister Parrikar in UP have provoked an opposition backlash. Congress leaders assert that the UPA too had carried out similar strikes minus the bragging. On Thursday Rahul Gandhi reacted with his khoon ki dalali comment that invited retaliatory fire from Amit Shah, which, in turn, led Kapil Sibal to launch a counter-attack. There is a noticeable deterioration in political dialogue. Opposition leaders rallied behind Narendra Modi initially because he had kept politics aside. It was one of those rare moments in India’s political culture. Despite his habit of putting himself in centre stage the PM had commendably distanced himself from the army strikes. The political restraint on all sides, however, did not last. B-grade leaders’ display of triumphalism and attacks on anyone doubting the strikes created and widened the fissures. By the time Modi intervened to stop chest-thumping, the damage had been done. The posters in UP hail the BJP government’s befitting reply to Pakistan after Uri. Like Rahul Gandhi, Omar Abdullah too has objected to the use of the army in political posters. At their press briefing, the army and MEA spokespersons had emphasised that the surgical strikes were against terror, and not against Pakistan or its army. Yet this fine distinction between terror and Pakistan has got blurred. Hotheads on both sides of the divide, supported by TV channels, engage in hate talk. War rhetoric may not be always harmless or manageable. The political discourse, whether between the two nations or political parties, should not slip below a certain level of decency and civility.

Ex-serviceman Beant Singh, who was murdered in Moga on Thursday. file photo

Tribune News Service

Moga, November 5

Liquor baron Sunny Gill said today that the vend at Thathi Bhai village, where ex-serviceman Beant Singh was murdered on Thursday night, was not allotted to him by the Excise Department.Talking to The Tribune, he said, “The three persons who killed the ex-serviceman were not my employees. I was also not present at the scene of the crime. Then why have I been booked?”An official of the department said the liquor vend was allotted to Star Wines, a company owned by Harjinder Singh. The latter could not be contacted.The official stated that Sanjit Wines, the company owned by Gill and his family members, had signed a partnership deed with Star Wines.Meanwhile, the deceased was cremated today, even as no arrest had been made so far. Beant’s cousin Jaswant Singh, in a statement given to the police, said he was present on the spot when the goons of the liquor mafia killed the ex-serviceman.Besides Gill, those named in the FIR are Harjinder Singh, Sant Ram, Jagdeep Singh Giani and Jeet Singh.

Wants military not to shield terror groups, conclude Pathankot probe’ | PM’s office calls it speculation

Nawaz Sharif

Islamabad, October 6

Facing international isolation, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in an unprecedented move has warned the powerful military not to shield banned militant groups and directed authorities to conclude the Pathankot terror attack probe and the 2008 Mumbai attack trial, a leading Pakistani daily reported today.Sharif’s orders came after a series of meetings between military and civilian leaders, Dawn newspaper said.Edit: Don’t count chickensThe government delivered a “blunt, orchestrated and unprecedented warning” to the military leadership and sought consensus on several key issues, including action against banned militant groups, the paper quoted unnamed individuals involved in the meetings.However, a spokesperson for the Pakistan Prime Minister’s Office rejected the Dawn report. Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said: “The story is purely speculative and, as the author himself acknowledged, ‘none of the attributed statements were confirmed by the individuals mentioned’.”The report says at least two sets of actions have been agreed upon. ISI Director General Rizwan Akhtar, accompanied by National Security Adviser Nasser Janjua, will travel to all provinces with a message that military-led Intelligence agencies should not interfere if law enforcement agencies act against banned militant groups.Sharif directed that fresh attempts be made to conclude the Pathankot investigation and restart the stalled Mumbai attack trial in a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court.Those decisions, taken after an extraordinary verbal confrontation between Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and the ISI DG, appear to indicate a new high-stakes approach by the PML-N government, the paper said.On Monday, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry made a presentation in the Prime Minister’s Office to a small group of civil and military officials. It summarised the results of the diplomatic outreach by Pakistan, the crux being that Pakistan faces diplomatic isolation and that the government’s talking points have been met with indifference in major world capitals, the paper said.On the US, Chaudhry said ties could further deteriorate because of its demand that action be taken against the Haqqani network. — PTI

Opposition blames Sharif for Pak isolation

• Islamabad: A senior Pakistani Opposition leader on Thursday criticised Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for giving freedom to “non-state actors” that has led to the country’s diplomatic isolation following the Uri terror attack. “Pakistan’s isolation is Nawaz Sharif’s personal failure. Pakistan is isolated because it gives freedom to non-state actors,” Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Aitzaz Ahsan said during a joint session of parliament

Indian Air Force’s mighty C-17 Globemaster aircraft on Thursday made its first landing at Mechuka, just 29 km from Sino-Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh. ANI

Itanagar/Leh, November 3

Even as Chinese and Indian troops are locked in a stand-off at the icy heights of Ladakh division since Wednesday after People’s Liberation Army personnel stopped the civilian work, Indian Air Force’s mighty C-17 Globemaster aircraft on Thursday made its first landing at Mechuka, just 29 km from Sino-Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh.At an elevation of 6,200 ft with a landing surface only 4,200 ft long, the C-17 landed, validating its short field landing performance at high altitude.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)The Advanced Landing Ground at Mechuka in the Yargyap river valley of West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh had been upgraded recently.Situated along the international border, Mechuka was one of the strategic locations during the India-China war in 1962.The IAF had started its operations with Dakota and Otter in 1962 in the area and subsequently the Antonov-32, popularly known as AN-32, was operated till October 2013 before the upgrade work was started.The road connectivity to the nearest air/rail head at Dibrugarh, about 500 km away, is generally two days of travel, unless the roads get damaged due to frequent landslides.”This is a quantum jump from the existing capability of An-32 and C-130J aircraft. Such airlift capability facilitates speedy transfer of men and material in this rugged terrain, interspersed with valleys and high mountain ranges that inhibit road connectivity,” a statement by the IAF said.In the event of a disaster in the region, C-17 operations to the remote ALG can enhance the speed and quantum of national relief effort.IAF has plans to validate airlift operations to and from various ALGs in the region that would usher in a new dimension in enhanced disaster response.This trial landing is expected to pave the way for operation of civil flights operating to and from the newly upgraded ALGs, which has an enormous potential to boost tourism by improving connectivity to remote locations in the North East.Chinese troops object to civilian workMeanwhile, in Ladakh, the Chinese troops raised objections yesterday when Indian army engineers were constructing an irrigation canal linking ‘hot spring’ waters for the villagers in Demchok, located 250 km east of Leh, under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).Around 55 Chinese troops arrived at the scene and halted the work in an aggressive manner, prompting the army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel to rush to the spot and stop the high-handedness of Chinese troops, official sources said today.The Chinese troops took positions on the perceived Line of Actual Control (LAC) and demanded that work be stopped as either side needs to take permission before undertaking any work, a claim disputed by the Indian side which says that as per the agreement between the two countries, information about construction needs to be shared only if it was meant for defence purposes.Both sides pulled out banners and have been stationed on the ground, the sources said, adding the Army and ITBP was not allowing the Chinese to move an inch ahead despite the PLA claiming that the area belonged to China.The area had witnessed a similar incident in 2014 after it was decided to construct a small irrigation canal at Nilung Nalla under the MNREGA scheme that had been a sore point with the Chinese.The PLA had mobilised villagers from Tashigong to pitch Rebos (tents) at Charding-Ninglung Nallah (CNN) Track Junction to protest Indian action.This time, the sources said, there were 55 personnel from the Chinese PLA whereas nearly 70 personnel from ITBP and army had fortified the area and prevented their march deeper into Indian territory, the sources said.The ‘hot spring’ is different from the one in Chashool where Police Day is observed in memory of 10 CRPF men killed in 1959 by Chinese troops.Meanwhile, senior Army officers insisted that there was no stand-off and the issue is being resolved through established procedures.They added that such objections are not uncommon from either side and situations like these are resolved amicably. — PTI