Chinese troops entered Indian territory, drove away herders, claims Ladakh official

New Delhi, February 12: Chinese soldiers allegedly entered Indian territory on January 28 in Ladakh and drove away local people from grazing their herd in the area, claimed a local official. "There was an incident on January 28, when PLA troops came into our territory, they drove away the grazing herds from our own territory. They did not take anyone, but shooed the nomads and herds away," the Block Development Chairperson of Nyoma, Urgain Chodon was quoted saying by The Indian Express. On Friday, the official also tweeted a 45-second video of the incident in a grazing area called Dogbuk.

On 28 jan PLA army came in our territory n not letting our herds graze in our own territory at dat time no action from security force but our own herdman cross the undemarcated Border to get his livelihood(yak)back army caught him from our own territory and send him 2 policestati pic.twitter.com/EToKTgNkne — Urgain Chodon (@UrgainC) February 11, 2022

However, a defence source asserted that this video appeared to be an old one. “It appears recorded during the summer season as no snow can be seen,” the source claimed. Chodon who was earlier a councillor from BJP, on the other hand, maintained while speaking to the media and said, “What I tweeted is what happened.” Also Read | Punjab Elections 2022: Malerkotla candidate booked for hiding information about proclaimed offender status "On 28 Jan PLA army came in our territory n not letting our herds graze in our own territory at dat time no action from security force but our own herdman cross the undemarcated Border to get his livelihood(yak)back army caught him from our own territory and send him 2 policestati," Chodon had tweeted. The second event mentioned in Chodon's tweet occurred on January 26 in the Changlum area, according to Chodon. "A local nomad had crossed the Line of Actual Control with 17 of his yaks to bring them back. He was accosted by the Indian Army on his way back, who interrogated him and took him to a police station." “I myself had gone to the Nyoma Police Station to bring the nomad back. Even though the IB people said that he is our nomad, still the Army did not believe and left him at the police station,” said Chodon. The Indian army has confirmed the incident that took place on January 26 and said that "soldiers of Indian Army and ITBP observed a civilian coming over to their side of the LAC from across and apprehended him. On further questioning, it was found that while the civilian claimed that he had gone across to get his yaks, there were no yaks in his possession. Since the statement of the civilian and his actions did not match, as a precautionary measure, he was handed over jointly to the local police.” Also Read | UP Elections 2022: Cong' Amroha candidate joins SP, alleges 'communication gap' in party -PTC News