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Description

Line of Control and Line of Actual Control

Line of Control

The LOC is a 450-mile-long military control line which serves as a frontier slicing the disputed Indian and Pakistani governed parts of Kashmir into two.

The line is covered in most parts with heavy coils of barbed wire–a fence put in place by India–and dotted with Indian and Pakistani check-posts

Karachi Agreement of 1949 brought first war to end and defined ceasefire line. Ceasefire line was formalised as Line of Control. The LOC came into effect in July 1972, after India and Pakistan fought a war that began in 1971. 

The Line of Control changed further in 1984 to thwart Pakistan's surreptitious design to capture Siachen glacier. 

Pakistan claims that Siachen glacier belongs to the part of Jammu and Kashmir given to its control under the ceasefire line (Karachi 1949) and the Line of Control (Shimla 1972) agreements. Accordingly, the Line of Control should run from NJ9842 to northward till Karakoram Pass, the meeting point of India's boundary with China.

However, the Indian argument has been that the crestline beyond NJ9842 follows a northwest direction and ends with Indira Col of Siachen glacier. Indira Col is the area where territories of Jammu and Kashmir meet the lands occupied (1947) by Pakistan and gifted (1963) to China.

The existing Line of Control runs from Manawar in Jammu to Indira Col on the tri-junction in Karakoram mountain range. The Indian and Pakistani troops have to maintain a no-man's land of 500 yards on each side of the Line of Control.

Line of Actual Control

The LAC is the demarcation that separates Indian-controlled territory from Chinese-controlled territory. India considers the LAC to be 3,488 km long, while the Chinese consider it to be only around 2,000 km. It is divided into three sectors: the eastern sector which spans Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, the middle sector in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, and the western sector in Ladakh.

The main points of contention regarding the LAC are as follows:

Eastern Sector  

•  In the eastern sector, the disagreement revolves around the alignment of the LAC with the 1914 McMahon Line.

•  The McMahon Line is a boundary line proposed by British colonial authorities that India considers as the international boundary in that region.

•  However, China has never accepted the McMahon Line and asserts its claims over the entire state of Arunachal Pradesh, considering it as part of southern Tibet. Disputes also arise over specific areas, such as Longju and Asaphila.

Middle Sector  

•  The middle sector of the LAC is generally considered the least controversial, with fewer disputes.

•  However, there can still be disagreements about the precise alignment, particularly in the Barahoti plains.

Western Sector  

•  The major disagreements and complexities arise in the western sector.

•  The Chinese concept of the LAC in the western sector emerged from two letters written by Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai to Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1959.

•  Zhou mentioned that the LAC consists of the “so-called McMahon Line in the east and the line up to which each side exercises actual control in the west.”

•  However, these letters did not provide a clear and detailed demarcation of the LAC. China’s interpretation of the LAC in the western sector is not based on a mutually agreed boundary, but rather on their own perception of “actual control” on the ground.

•  After the 1962 Sino-Indian War, the Chinese claimed to have withdrawn to a position 20 kilometers behind the LAC in November 1959.

•  Zhou clarified the LAC further in another letter to Nehru, mentioning that it coincides with the “so-called McMahon Line” in the eastern sector and with the “traditional customary line” in the western and middle sectors, as consistently pointed out by China.

•  However, the exact location of the LAC in the western sector remains ambiguous, leading to disputes and confrontations between Indian and Chinese troops

McMahon Line: McMahon Line is a borderline between China and India i.e. China-occupied territory of the East-Himalayan region and the Indian regions; which India considers to be the actual line of control while China rejects it.

Radcliffe Line: The Radcliffe Line was the boundary demarcated between the Indian and Pakistani portions of the Punjab Province and Bengal Presidency of British India.

Palk Strait : The Palk Strait is a strait that separates the Tamil Nadu state of India and the Mannar district of Sri Lanka.