Context:

The Chushul sub-sector has come into focus in the standoff between the Indian and PLA troops.

The Chushul sub-sector

• The Chushul sub-sector lies south of Pangong Tso in eastern Ladakh.
  It comprises high, broken mountains and heights of Tatung
  • Black Top
  • Helmet Top
  • Gurung Hill
• Megger Hill besides passes such as
  • Rezang La and Rechin La
  • The Spanggur Gap
  • The Chushul valley
• Situated at a height of over 13,000 feet close to the LAC, the Chushul Valley has a vital airstrip that played an important role even during the 1962 War with China.
• Due to its location, Chushul is one of the five Border Personnel Meeting points between the Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army of China.

Strategic importance to India

• Strategic location: Chushul enjoys tremendous strategic and tactical importance because of its location and terrain, which make it a center for logistics deployment.
• Easy connectivity: This sector has plains that are a couple of kilometers wide, where mechanized forces, including tanks, can be deployed. Its airstrip and connectivity by road to Leh add to its operational advantages.
• Capability to dominate: Indian troops have now secured the ridgeline in this sub-sector that allows them to dominate the Chushul bowl on the Indian side, and the Moldo sector on the Chinese side.
• Clear sight: They also have a clear sight of the almost 2-km-wide Spanggur gap, which the Chinese used in the past to launch attacks on this sector in the 1962 War.

Disputed and sensitive areas

• There are about 23 “disputed and sensitive areas” on the Line of Actual Control, stretching from Arunachal Pradesh to the Ladakh region.
• The other sensitive areas in Ladakh include Trig Heights, Dumchele, Chumar, Spanggur Gap and Pangong Tso.
• Outside of Ladakh, sensitive areas include Namkha Chu, Sumdorong Chu, Asaphila, Dichu, Yangtse, Fish Tail-I & II in Dibang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh and Barahoti, Kaurik&Shipki La in the middle sector.