(TibetanReview.net, Oct03’26) – After Arunachal Pradesh, India has issued standard, official names of places and geographical features in its Union Territory of Ladakh in a new map to make clear they are parts of its territory, given that they remain under Pakistani or Chinese occupation or claims.
With intend to remove any ambiguity or misplaced perception regarding certain land areas, peaks, mountains, passes, glaciers and water bodies in Ladakh, including those bordering Chinese occupied Tibet, being an integral part of India, the government has, in consultation with the Union Territory, identified 28 places and features in it by standard names on the of-ficial map of the Survey of India, reported timesofindia.com Oct 3.
Among the 28 are stated to be places in Aksai Chin, ceded provisionally by Pakistan to China in a 1963 border agreement, and Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, which India treats as part of Ladakh.
“Identifying them formally… is aimed at facilitating their accurate recognition and better awareness among the people at large,” India’s Home Ministry has said Oct 2.
The move came less than a couple of months after India took a similar step with regard to 27 border areas and passes in Arunachal Pradesh, which also borders Chinese occupied Tibet and which China’s asserts is Zangnan (Southern Tibet). This was., in turn, in response to a succession of similar moves made by China over the past several years.
The 28 places in Ladakh identified are stated to include 10 peaks, three mountains, seven land areas, two glaciers, two passes, one river, one lake, one water body and one valley. The list includes Hot Spring and Gogra, which were friction points during the 2020 standoff be-tween India and China.
The list is also stated to include Alisha Giri; Brangsa; Chapchingal Pass; Kanishka Peak; Karun Pir mountain; Kuksel; Martand Giri; Parpik Glacier; Skamri Glacier; Shachmirik Pass; Shkorga Valley; Zorawar Peak; Dehra Compass; and Drak Karpo.
Also identified are stated to be Jolmori; Kumarayana Point; Panglung; Rinchen Zangpo; Sa-kyasri Giri; Guru Rinpoche; Shamal Lungpa (a patrol and staging route in the 1950s); Yangpa River; Marpa Lotsava Ri; Milarepa Kangri; Shiva Ri, and Maheshwara Ri.
The above two exercises by India came in response to China’s repeated assertions of claim on border areas in Ladakh and Arunachal, even calling locations in the latter by Chinese names. India has strongly rejected these claims, the report noted.
In May 2020, China moved troops inside India-claimed lines in Ladakh, pitched tents and built observation posts across the LAC (line of actual control) in areas such as the Galwan Valley, Gogra, Hot Springs and the south and north banks of the Pangong lake.
And following the Galwan Valley clash, the Chinese blocked Indian patrolling routes at PP-15 and PP-17A, creating a prolonged eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation, noted telegraphindia.com Oct 3.
Both sides have since 2022 carried out disengagements and executed a coordinated pullback, dismantled temporary structures and established temporary buffer zones (no-patrolling areas) in the Galwan Valley, the south and north banks of the Pangong lake, Hot Springs and Gogra to reduce tension and friction.
While disengagement at these points eased direct contact points, larger border issues remain unresolved, the report noted.
Military veterans have long been demanding that India ask China to restore the status quo ante and withdraw from the areas it has been occupying since May 2020. They fear that the creation of non-militarised “buffer zones” inside India-claimed lines at these transgression points may eventually lead to China forcing India to agree to a reinterpretation of the LAC, the report said.