Neeraj Kapoor asked: Why India doesn't pressurise China to take back AKSAI-CHIN region occupied by them in LADAKH?

R. N. Das replies: This question raises the larger issue of settlement of border dispute between the two countries. There have been sincere efforts to resolve the border issue, and so far there have been 14 rounds of border talks to solve the long-pending border dispute. The special representatives of both the countries have been appointed by the two countries to examine the entire gamut of border dispute so as to find an amicable settlement of the border dispute. Besides, agreements have also been signed between the two countries in this regard, for example, the agreement signed in 1993, affirms the view that the India-China boundary question shall be resolved through peaceful and friendly consultation, and that neither side shall use or threaten to use force against the other by any means. Yet another important highlight of the agreement was that it stipulated ‘pending and ultimate solution of the boundary question between the two countries, the two sided shall strictly observe the line of actual control between the two sides, and that no activities of either side shall overstep the line of actual control. Clause 7 of the 2005 agreement on ‘Political parameters and guidelines for the settlement of the India-China boundary question’ stipulated that in reaching a boundary settlement; the two sides shall safeguard the due interests of their settled population in the border areas. Thus the question has to take into account the entire border dispute into consideration.