Sources said that at all the four pockets of contention, disengagement has been taking place in steps but trust remains to be an issue. While it is expected that troops will move back to their original positions slowly, the army is taking no chances and is keeping a strict vigil on the disengagement process. At the contentious Hot Springs area, both sides have moved back a bulk of their troops but continue to retain 50 soldiers each till the next level of Corps Commander talks scheduled for early next week

New Delhi: Indian and Chinese troops have been completely disengaged in the Galwan and Gogra regions while there has been significant withdrawal at Hot Springs and Pangong Tso even as both sides have reaffirmed their desire for a “full restoration of peace and tranquillity in the border areas”.

Sources said that both sides have decided to cease patrolling for some time in the disputed area so that troops don’t clash as tempers are running high and that the disengagement process can be managed better by avoiding contact.

At the contentious Hot Springs area, both sides have moved back a bulk of their troops but continue to retain 50 soldiers each till the next level of Corps Commander talks scheduled for early next week.

As first reported by ET, the Finger 4 area along Pangong Tso has also seen significant progress with PLA troops moving towards Finger 5.

India and China reflected on the ground situation at the meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) on Friday also.

“Both sides will ensure complete disengagement of the troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and de-escalation from India-China border areas for full restoration of peace and tranquillity in the border areas in accordance with bilateral agreements and protocols,” an MEA statement issued after the meeting read.

Sources said that at all the four pockets of contention, disengagement has been taking place in steps but trust remains to be an issue. While it is expected that troops will move back to their original positions slowly, the army is taking no chances and is keeping a strict vigil on the disengagement process.

The MEA said that the WMCC meeting reviewed the situation in the India-China border areas including the progress made in ongoing disengagement process and that Senior Commanders will meet soon to “discuss further steps so as to ensure complete disengagement and de-escalation in a timely manner”.

The Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong also struck a conciliatory tone in a video message released Friday, saying that the two nations should be partners, not rivals, and the “sensitive and complicated” border dispute created by history should be solved by “a fair and reasonable solution mutually acceptable”.

Sun began his statement by mentioning the face-off between Indian and Chinese troops in Galwan Valley and said it was a situation both countries would like to avoid. “On June 15, there was an incident causing casualties at the Galwan Valley in the western sector of the China-India border. It was a situation neither China nor India like to see,” he said.

In the backdrop of what recently happened at the Galwan Valley, he said that “some quarters in India have raised doubts about the consensus reached by the two leaders, and have wrong precept.