Click to play videoPangong Tso/Chushul: Ladakh's emerald green Pangong Tso Lake has an ugly side to it - the dispute between India and China over parts of the lake. But when boat patrols of the two sides meet, no shots are fired, instead a banner drill is carried out.
Indian Army patrol boats armed with machine guns and crewed by commandos sometimes enter the Chinese claim area of the lake, which India disputes.
The disputed areas are on the north bank of the lake and a bit of the south bank.
When Indian and Chinese patrols do come face to face, a special drill is followed to ensure no shot is fired. Each side unfurls a banner in English and Mandarin professing friendship and asks the other side to withdraw.
Such drills help at a time of growing uncertainty in the India-China relationship. At Dumchelle, south of Pangong Lake, evidence of new Chinese military construction and build up can be seen.
Apart from the lake, the vast desert-like area near the border, which smugglers use to carry out their activities, also poses security threat to both the countries.
"It can have security implications like spies can come across in the grab of smugglers," said Lt Gen Ravi Dastane.
These issues are raised at border meetings with the Chinese at Chushul and elsewhere on LOC, but senior officers privately admit that Chinese assurances have to be taken with suspicion, which means that at all times guns are primed and ready.
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