Chumur Village: A contested boundary and a diffident border policy is proving to be a major problem for nomads living along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh.
For villagers in Dungti, Phobrang, Chushul and Chumur along the Line of Actual Control, it is a double whammy.
The remote location of these villages deprives the residents the usual benefits of development and then to add to the misery, their proximity to the disputed border disallows them to access the traditional grazing grounds for the cattle since the Chinese side objects to movement of graziers.
Take Tai Rimpoche. A Tibetan refugee who crossed over into Ladakh post the 1962 war, he owns about 450 sheep but now finds it increasingly difficult to find grazing ground for them.
"Our traditional grounds are shrinking. The ITBP and the Army prevent us from going too close to the border. Even if we manage to go anywhere near, the Chinese Push us back," he points out.
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) says it is bound by the border agreement with China, a claim locals refute.
Phuntong, a local counsellor says locals are suspects in the eyes of the forces.
"The ITBP stops us almost 20 km short of the border. This means our traditional grazing grounds are no longer available to us," he points towards the distant hill and explains.
The story is repeated in every border village. At Chumur, where frequent face-offs takes place between Indian and Chinese forces, villagers complain of a diffident ITBP and Army and say they don't protect us.
"Three of our local shepherds were slapped at this very point but the ITBP or Army did not do anything," a villager tells us, the first ever media team to reach this last post on the India-China border in south eastern Ladakh.
Clearly, a new template is needed to deal with the Chinese who are inching forward every month and everyday.
For villagers in Dungti, Phobrang, Chushul and Chumur along the Line of Actual Control, it is a double whammy.
The remote location of these villages deprives the residents the usual benefits of development and then to add to the misery, their proximity to the disputed border disallows them to access the traditional grazing grounds for the cattle since the Chinese side objects to movement of graziers.
"Our traditional grounds are shrinking. The ITBP and the Army prevent us from going too close to the border. Even if we manage to go anywhere near, the Chinese Push us back," he points out.
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Phuntong, a local counsellor says locals are suspects in the eyes of the forces.
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The story is repeated in every border village. At Chumur, where frequent face-offs takes place between Indian and Chinese forces, villagers complain of a diffident ITBP and Army and say they don't protect us.
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Clearly, a new template is needed to deal with the Chinese who are inching forward every month and everyday.
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