Month before standoff, China blocked 5 patrol points in Depsang

The PPs are meant to be reached to demonstrate that the area in between these points and the LAC can be accessed. (File)

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, making a statement in Rajya Sabha Thursday on the situation along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, said “patrolling patterns are traditional and well-defined… no force on earth can stop our soldiers from patrolling” and “there will be no change in the patrolling pattern”.

But the situation on the ground, especially in the Depsang Plains in the far north of Ladakh, is very different. Because more than a month before the standoff…