Line of Actual Control: A line that actually doesn't exist but has helped maintain peace between India and China. I explain the origins of LAC, when India accepted it and why, the Ladakh tangle, how the LAC is different from the LoC with Pakistan and more. indianexpress.com/article/explai…
This explainer on LAC draws from three sources: primarily from Chapter 1 of @ShivshankaMenon's 'Choices', from Shyam Saran's 'How India Sees the World', and AG Noorani's masterly 'India-China Boundary Problem'.
China proposed the LAC in 1956, insists that the one it proposed in 1959 holds till now. India accepted the concept of LAC in 1993, but the agreement deliberately left the term unqualified. The two sides have not been able to delineate the LAC, and China no longer wants to either
Maps of the LAC for the middle sector were exchanged, for the western sector they were shared but not exchanged as each believed the other side was making exaggerated claims and then the process stopped in 2005. Thus the LAC is not even mutually delineated on maps for two sides.
Line of Control with Pakistan emerged in 1972 out of the 1948 CFL. It is properly delineated and maps are signed by Indian and Pakistani DGMOs. Nothing of that sort in the case of LAC. Yet, cross-border firing common on LoC but LAC hasn't seen a shot fired in decades.
(n/n) The bottomline is that when you hear the term LAC, don't think of a line which both sides agree to - or even disagree with and know the disagreements fully. It is a concept designed to maintain peace and may have outlived its utility now, unless made concrete in some form.
(n+1/n) An approximate sketch of the three sectors on the LAC.
The difference in length of LAC between India & China is because China argues that India includes the boundary of Kashmir - it considers a disputed territory - and adds the length of the curved border of Aksai Chin.
The difference in length of LAC between India & China is because China argues that India includes the boundary of Kashmir - it considers a disputed territory - and adds the length of the curved border of Aksai Chin.
(n+2/n) And how the Indian map looked like before Nehru ordered in 1954 for the borders to be defined and marked properly. This is from AG Noorani's superb book.
