army: LAC open to salami slicing by China due to grazing curbs | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Amid the ongoing border standoff with China, Indian Army’s restrictions on grazing in the traditional pasture land has left areas along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh vulnerable to ‘salami slicing’ by the People’s Liberation Army and affected livestock rearing, the sole livelihood of nomadic inhabitants, who act as the ‘eyes’ of the forces.
“The Chinese have given unfettered freedom to their nomads to move freely. They very often use their nomad community to transgress on our land in a step-by-step approach,” Konchok Stanzin, LAHDC Councillor representing Chushul constituency, had said in a memorandum to defence minister Rajnath Singh during his November 18 visit to the area.
Separately, Stanzin told TOI that Indian nomads are restricted by the Indian Army from grazing their livestock on the traditional pastureland stretching from Hot Spring, Fingers (features on the north bank of Pangong Tso) to Nyalung Yokma and Nyalung Gongma, features on the south bank of Pangong that the Army refers to as Kailash range, Rechin La, Rezang La, Black Top, Gurung Hill and Phurtsur Karpo.
Government estimates peg the number of livestock at 79,250 in the Changthang area, requiring 4,775 quintals each of feed and fodder for 30 days through the winter. “In summer, herders move their flock to inland meadows and valleys. But in winter, the pastures along the LAC have the typical grass that sheep, goat and yaks sniff out from under snow,” Stanzin said.
“The Chinese send livestock and then send soldiers in civilian clothes as herders to pitch tents for staking claim on our land. These traditional grazing areas are important and our nomads must be allowed there with their livestock so they can detect any trespass,” he said, referring to reports of Chinese yaks grazing in Tharsang valley north of Marsimik La.
People in the know said restrictions are a result of the de-escalation process in Pangong and Chushul areas, where both armies were eyeballing each other since May 2020 clashes in Galwan valley along the Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldi road India opened west of Chushul in 2019.