Unknown Facts About LAC and Patrol Points Where are Our Soldiers in LAC ?

In the 1970s, India's China Study Group identified patrol points to which Indian forces would patrol. This was a better representation of how far India could patrol towards its perceived LAC and delimited India's limits of actual control.  These periodic patrols were performed by both sides and often crisscrossed.

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The term "line of actual control" is said to have been used by Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai

Patrolling Points (PPs) were identified by India's China Study Group in the 1970s to optimize patrolling effectiveness and resource utilization along the disputed and non-demarcated China–India border at a time when border infrastructure was weak. Instead of patrolling the entire border which was more than 3000km long, troops would just be required to patrol up to the patrolling points.

Over time, as infrastructure, resources and troop capability improved and increased, the patrolling points were revised. The concept of patrol points came about well before India officially accepted the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Patrolling points give a more realistic on–ground guide of India's limits of actual control.

Most PPs are close to the LAC. However in the Depsang plains, the PPs still remain well inside, despite having been revised a number of times. Former Army officers have said that PPs are a better on ground picture of India's limits of control.

Based on location, the periodicity of visiting PPs can vary greatly from a few weeks to a couple of months. While some PPs are numbered, others are not, and are identified by geographical landmarks.

There are over 65 PPs stretching from the Karakoram to Chumar.

PPs within the LAC and the patrol routes that join them are known as 'limits of patrolling'. Some army officers call this the "LAC within the LAC" or the actual LAC. The various patrol routes to the limits of patrolling are called the 'lines of patrolling'.

During the 2020 China–India skirmishes PPs under dispute included PPs 10 to 13, 14, 15, 17, and 17A.[49] On 18 September 2020, an article in The Hindu wrote that "since April, Indian troops have been denied access to PPs number 9, 10, 11, 12, 12A, 13, 14, 15, 17, 17A."

List of numbered patrol points

• PP1 to PP3 — near the Karakoram Pass
• PP8 to PP9 — in Depsang plains
• PP10 to PP13 including PP11A — in the Depsang Bulge from Raki Nala to Jivan Nala
• PP14 — in Galwan Valley
• PP15 — in Hot Spring
• PP16 — between Hot Spring and Gogra in the Chang Chenmo River valley
• PP17 and PP17A — in Gogra, 17A is Gogra Post
• PP18 to PP23 — southeast of Gogra, from the Chang Chemo River tributary along the third stream towards Pangong Tso