Dumchele

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Dumchele

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Settlement type Village
Country India
State
District
Subdivision

Template:Infobox Chinese DumcheleTemplate:Efn or Dhumtsele[1] (Template:Lang-zh, Template:Bo) is a village and a grazing area in the Skakjung pastureland, which runs along the right bank of Indus River from China-administered Dumchele and Tsoskar Lake in south to India-administered Dungti-Loma in north, near the Line of Actual Control between Ladakh and Tibet. Dumchele and the area around it have been under Chinese administration since 1962 but claimed by India. The locale is in the disputed Demchok sector, about 50 kilometers northwest from Demchok and 50 kilometers southeast of Chushul.[2][3] It lies on a historic trade route between Ladakh and Rutog, with an erstwhile border pass at Chang La or Shingong La (Template:Lang-zh) to the southeast of Dumchele.

To the west of the Chang La pass, flows the Kigunaru River (Template:Lang-zh) forming a rich grazing ground that is also called Kigunaru.Template:Efn Another name for the river is Shingong Lungpa. In recent decades, some of the waters of the Kigunaru river have been flowing towards Dumchele and gathering into a endorheic lake.

Until 1962 India maintained a 'forward' post at Chang La, a day's march from Dumchele.[4][5] In the 1962 war, China attacked the post and forced India to withdraw from the entire Kigunaru river basin. At the present time, China maintains a border trading market at Dumchele and a military post nearby.[2]

Geography

Template:See also

File:Demchok-sector-map.jpg
Map-1: The disputed Demchok sector between China and India: the Chinese claim line on the west, the Indian claim line on the east and the Line of Actual Control in the middle.

Dumchele is at present an ancient trading village for cross-border trade in Chinese-administered part of the northern Demchok sector. It is on the right bank of Indus River, north of Koyul Ridge and Kigunaru River.

Traditionally, the region was a grazing area. The Indus valley here is about four miles wide, and sandy with a thin layer of grass.Template:Sfnp That, coupled with the fact that there is no snow here in winter, makes it a most important winter grazing area for the Changpa nomads.[6] The Ladakhis call this area Skakjung (or Kokzhung).

The present Dumchele village is on the bank of a mid-sized lake, which is apparently fed by a strand of the Kigunaru River (or Shingong Lungpa). The river flows down from the mountains of the Kailash Range, which forms the eastern watershed of the Indus Valley. The river passes by the Chang La pass, where it makes a 90 degree bend, and flows west through a gap in the Kailash Range into the Indus valley. Afterwards, it gets "divided by an island",Template:Sfnp with a strand flowing straight, and another flowing north parallel to the Indus River. The north-flowing strand gathers into the Dumchele lake, which appears to be endorheic. The formation of the lake appears to be a recent phenomenon as it is not shown on any maps prior to 1960.

To the west of Dumchele is an older, more natural lake called Tsoskur, also called Tsoskar Lake (see map-3). The Line of Actual Control between the Indian and Chinese-administered parts in this sector runs between the two lakes.

History

File:Demchok-sector-north-US-Army-map-1954.jpg
Map-2: The northern part of Demchok sector drawn by US Army Map Service, 1954
File:1874 map of Demchok area by Frederic Drew.jpg
Map-3: Frederec Drew's map of the Demchok sector, 1875

The Dumchele plain lies along an ancient trade route between Lahaul and Rudok, which is known at least since the 17th century. The Ladakhis also used this route on occasion, even though their main route was via Chushul (called the "Junglam").[2]

British Raj

Template:See also Moorcroft's associate, George Trebeck, visited the area in early 19th century, travelling south on the right bank of Indus. He stayed at a place called Chibra very near Dumchele.Template:Efn The area was studded with small ponds and lakes, and a rivulet crossed the Indus bed (Kigunaru river, also called Xingong Lungpa), getting divided by an island.Template:Efn He described the Indus river bed as consisting of loose sand, with a form of sand-grass called Long-ma growing on it. It provided winter grazing for the Ladakhis, apparently the only winter grazing available in the whole of Rupshu.Template:Sfnp He also noticed a trading party belonging to the Kalon of Ladakh return from Rudok, carrying fifty-six sheep loads of shawl wool (pashm) and further loads of coarse wool.Template:Sfnp[7]

The border of Ladakh was described to Trebeck as running from "the angle of a hill about five miles to the east" to the low pass of La Ganskiel (the "Lagankhel" of later maps).[8]

Scholar Janet Rizvi confirms that traders often travelled with donkeys via Chang La to Rudok and returned with salt and wool. Ladakhi monks that went to Tibet for education and training also used the route, travelling with traders.[9]

In 1847, Henry Strachey visited the left bank of Indus, as part of a British boundary commission for Kashmir. In contrast to Trebeck's testimony, he found that Ladakh's territory stretched up to a rivulet flowing into the Indus next to the Demchok. The Tibetan guards at Demchok did not allow him to proceed beyond this point.Template:SfnpTemplate:Efn

After conducting Kashmir Survey between 1855 and 1865, the British government published a Kashmir Atlas, with a defined border. This border ignored Strachey's findings and tried to represent Trebeck's information. It excluded Demchok on the left bank of Indus, leaving the border at Lagankhel, and excluded all the right bank up to the confluence of the Kigunaru river. In between Lagankhel and Kigunaru river, the border ran along the Indus river itself.[10] (See the map by the US Army Map Service.)

Kashmir's geologist Frederic Drew created a map in connection with his book, The Jummoo and Kashmir Territories, in 1875. His border, professedly based on the territories actually used by the Ladakhis and Tibetans for grazing, placed the Chang La ("Chang Pass") and the entire basin of the Kigunaru River within Ladakh.[11]

Despite the various British efforts at border definition, the situation on the ground was essentially unchanged. The state of Kashmir was ruled by a native Maharaja who enjoyed considerable autonomy. The traditional borders appear to have continued until the time of India's independence in 1947.[12]

1962 war and aftermath

In October 1962, during the Sino-Indian War, the Chinese occupied the Dumchele area, along with the entire right bank of the Indus to the south of Dumchele.[13] The Line of Actual Control resulting from the war runs between Dumchele and the smaller lake of Tsoskur to the west.

During and following the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, the Dumchele area saw some action mainly in the form of the Indian and Chinese governments exchanging notes blaming each other for intruding into their territory.[14][15] Near Tsoskur, Template:Convert southwest of Dumchele, three Indian armed personnel were killed by PLA troops on 19 September 1965.[16][17] The Chinese alleged that India had committed its "worst border provocation since 1962" at Dumchele.[3]

Trading post

Dumchele, on an ancient India-Tibet trade route, is not one of the mutually-agreed officially-designated border trade points (BTP) between India and China, though it has been proposed as another BTP[18] The mutually-agreed officially-designated border trade points (BTP) are Lipulekh Pass (since 1991) in Uttrakhand, Shipki La (since 1993) in Himachal Pradesh, and Nathu La (since 2006) in Sikkim for trading the locally made items through these points for boosting the local economy.[18][19]

Before 2014, China built a border trading post at Dumchele, meant for the Ladakhis to access.[2] The PLA military stationed near Dumchele allows this trade. For a few days during the winter the trade intensifies. A 2014 study by Siddiq Wahid reports "illicit trade" (smuggling) of "tiger bones, tiger skins, rhino horns and sandalwood".[2] Items exchanged also include rice, wheat and cooking oil, and in exchange pashmina shawls and Chinese crockery and electronics are acquired.[20] In 2016, the smuggling occurring here, said to be worth crores of rupees, was reportedly stopped by Indian authorities.[21]

Locations

Tsaskur, alternately spelled as Tsoskur, is an Indian administered campsite located Template:Convert south west of Dumchele.[22] Areas between Dumchele and Demchok such as Nagtsang, Nakung, and Lungma-Serding, Skakjung are China administered territories.[23] Kegu Naro is a day's march from Dumchele.[5]

Notes

Template:Notelist

References

  1. ↑ P.Stobdan, Ladakh concern overrides LAC dispute, The Tribune, 28 May 2020.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Siddiq Wahid (February 2014) The Changthang Borderlands of Ladakh: A Preliminary Inquiry (Discussion Paper # 187). Research and Information Systems for Developing Countries. Retrieved on 31 October 2020.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 The United States and India: A History Through Archives: The Later Years: Volume 2{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. SAGE Publications India(2011). ISBN 978-81-321-0678-4
  4. ↑ The Crimson Chinar: The Kashmir Conflict: A Politico Military Perspective. Lancer Publishers(2015).
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Ladakh drift. Indian Express(26 April 2013).: "Until the mid-1980s, the boundary lay at Kegu Naro — a day-long march from Dumchele, where India had maintained a forward post till 1962."
  6. ↑ Template:Harvp: "This is where the Champas [Changpas] of Rupshu spend the winter.... At Dora falls hardly any snow. This is why the place is chosen for winter quarters, the sheep and the cattle being thus able to graze on the extensive though thin pasture found on the flat."
  7. ↑ [{{{url}}} Recent Research on Ladakh 4 & 5: Proceedings of the Fourth and Fifth International Colloquia on Ladakh]. Motilal Banarsidass Publ..
  8. ↑ Template:Harvp: "... the boundary of Ladakh was pointed out to us as extending from the angle of a hill about five miles to the east, to the low pass of La Ganskiel on the road to Gardokh, about fourteen miles distant to the southward."
  9. ↑ [{{{url}}} Relationship between Ladakh and Buddhist Tibet: Pilgrimage and trade](Autumn 2006).
  10. ↑ See Template:Harvp for a description.
  11. ↑ Template:Harvp: "About north-north-east from Dora the northern mountain-ridge changes in point of composition from granite to a more or less altered shale; the line of it is more to the east than before, while in the line of its original direction are some more hills which are joined to the other ridge by a neck called on the Survey Map "Chang Pass"; this Pass is practically the boundary of Chinese Tibet in that direction; in the Indus Valley the boundary will be a day or two's march beyond Dora."
  12. ↑ [{{{url}}} Expeditionts: The Tso Morari to the Tibetan Frontier at Demchok]. Available from http://pahar.in/journals/
  13. ↑ Template:Harvp: "In the Chinese bazaar of Dumchulle, in the territory occupied from India in 1962, [...]"
  14. ↑ Daily Report, Foreign Radio Broadcasts, Issues 181-185{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. United States Central Intelligence Agency(1965)
  15. ↑ Notes, Memoranda and Letters Exchanged between the Governments of India and China (February 1966–February 1967) White Paper No XIII. Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. Accessed on 31 October 2020.
  16. ↑ From the archives - dated November 30, 1965. The Hindu(2015-11-30). Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  17. ↑ Indian Army celebrates Cho La Day to commemorate 1967 action against PLA. South Asia Monitor(2 October 2020). Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Trade point planned at India-China LAC, newmediacomm.com, 28 October 2024.
  19. ↑ India in talks with China for resumption of trade via 3 border passes ahead of Modi’s SCO visit, ThePrint, 08 August 2025.
  20. ↑ Smuggling rampant along LAC in Ladakh. Deccan Herald(2009-09-21).
  21. ↑ Is there a way forward for India-China in Ladakh?, Arpi, Claude. Indian Defence Review(23 August 2019).
  22. ↑ Notes, Memoranda and Letters Exchanged between the Governments of India and China (January 1965–February 1966) White Paper No XII. Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. Accessed on 5 November 2020.
  23. ↑ As China 'Inches' In, India Cannot Afford To Yield Ground In Ladakh. StratNewsGlobal(29 May 2020).

Bibliography

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