“Neither side has proposed any date for the military dialogue yet”, said people familiar with the developments

Yesterday, the people familiar with the improvements stated that there is no sign of when India and China will uphold the next round of military talks to defuse border tensions in eastern Ladakh. Both the countries accepted to hold the corps commander-level dialogue at an early date during recent diplomatic talks on the lingering dispute.

They said, “Neither side has proposed any date for the military dialogue yet. Any breakthrough in resolving the border row is unlikely without political/diplomatic intervention.” The former Northern Army commander Lieutenant General DS Hooda (retd) said, “The basic reason is that the positions of the two sides on the conditions of disengagement remain too far apart. Unless these conditions are reconciled in diplomatic or political level talks, the interaction between the militaries will serve little purpose.”

Hooda said, “Prior to the onset of the winter, there was some incentive for both sides to reach an agreement so that troops could be pulled out before the winter. That incentive could also have disappeared now that troops are prepared to hold ground through the winter.”