By Tsering Dhundup
DHARAMSHALA, Jan 31: In the remote Ladakh-Tibet border region, ongoing tension persists as local herders on the Indian side of the border were confronted and denied grazing land for their livestock by intruding Chinese Army patrolling unit earlier this month. The incident, allegedly triggered by the denial of access to traditional grazing lands, occurred on January 2 in the Kakshung area of Nyoma village in the Chushul Valley, bordering occupied Tibet.
A group of herders was intercepted at Patrolling Points 35, 36, and 37 in Dungti village of Nyoma by at least a dozen People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers, accompanied by three armoured vehicles. Kunsang Namjal, an Instagram user, shared a video clip of the clash, capturing a herder using a sling to throw stones at PLA vehicles.
In the footage, the herder can be heard shouting at a PLA soldier in Tibetan language, “Why have you come here? Why have you brought your vehicles here,” questioning their presence and continuing “This is our ancestral land. We graze our livestock here” emphasizing the land’s ancestral significance for grazing livestock.
The 9-minute, 50-second video shows a heated argument between PLA soldiers and herders face to face, with one batch of Chinese soldiers, led by an armoured vehicle, pushing the herders and their livestock back. After the clash, the herders were forced to move out of the area, sparking anger in the nomadic community who depend on the pastures in the highlands of Ladakh for their survival.
A reliable source told Phayul that the location where the incident happened is clearly on the Indian side of the border where herders have led their livestock graze in the winter months. “Such blatant incidents of incursion and bully tactics by Chinese army on the Indian side of the border have happened on numerous occasions,” the source added.
Chinese soldiers have turned away nomads from their traditional lands in Ladakh in the past. There have been several reports of incursion by China with Indian patrols also reportedly losing access to the strategic Depsang Plains, Demchok and other areas in eastern Ladakh.
Diplomatic and military level talks on the border dispute between the two countries have failed to make any significant headway in recent years as relations between the two South Asian giants souring over New Delhi’s growing relationship with Washington.
Following the Galwan Valley clashes which brought the two South Asian giants on the brink of a full-blown war in 2020-2021, traditional grazing land has turned into a ‘no-man’s land’ at many places in Ladakh, increasing the difficulties of nomadic herders.
