Dumchele

Dumchele[lower-alpha 1] or Dhumtsele[5] (Chinese: 都木契列; pinyin: Dōu mù qì liè, Tibetan: སྡུམ་མཚེས་ལེ་, Wylie: sdum mtshes le, THL: dum tsé lé) is a village and a grazing area near the Line of Actual Control between Ladakh and Tibet, administered by China since October 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.[6][7] It lies on a historic trade route between Ladakh and Rutog, with an erstwhile border pass at Chang La or Shingong La (Chinese: 新贡拉; pinyin: Xīn gòng lā) to the southeast of Dumchele.

Dumchele
སྡུམ་མཚེས་ལེ་, 都木契列
Dhumtsele
Village
Dumchele is located in Tibet
Dumchele
Dumchele
Dumchele is located in Ladakh
Dumchele
Dumchele
Coordinates: 33°04′34″N 79°10′08″E
CountryChina (disputed by India)
RegionTibet
PrefectureNgari
CountyRutog
Elevation
4,100 m (13,500 ft)
Dumchele
Chinese都木契列
Hanyu PinyinDōu mù qì liè

A river flows below the Chang La pass, collecting mountain streams from the north. A rich grazing ground is formed near the pass, called Kigunaru,[lower-alpha 2] and the river itself is called Kigunaru river (Chinese: 基古纳鲁河; pinyin: Jī gǔ nà lǔ hé). It is also called Shingong Lungpa.

Until 1962 India maintained a 'forward' post at Chang La, a day's march from Dumchele.[10][9] 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.[6]

Geography
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 a trading village for cross-border trade in Chinese-administered part of the northern Demchok sector. Traditionally, it was a grazing area. The Indus valley here is about four miles wide, and sandy with a thin layer of grass.[11] 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.[12] 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 forming the eastern watershed of the Indus Valley. It 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",[13] 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. The Line of Actual Control between the Indian and Chinese-administered parts in this sector runs between the two lakes.

History
The northern part of Demchok sector drawn by US Army Map Service, 1954
Frederec Drew's map of the Demchok sector, 1875

The Dumchele plain lies along a 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").[6]

British Raj
See also: Demchok sector

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.[lower-alpha 3] 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.[lower-alpha 4] 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.[15] 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.[16][17]

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).[18]

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.[19]

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.[20][lower-alpha 5]

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.[21] (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.[22]

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.[23]

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.[24] 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-Pakistan 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.[25][26] Near Tsoskur, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) southwest of Dumchele, three Indian armed personnel were killed by PLA troops on 19 September 1965.[27][28] The Chinese alleged that India had committed its "worst border provocation since 1962" at Dumchele.[7]

Trading post

China built a border trading post at Dumchele, meant for the Ladakhis to access.[6] 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".[6] Items exchanged also include rice, wheat and cooking oil, and in exchange pashmina shawls and Chinese crockery and electronics are acquired.[29] In 2016, the smuggling occurring here, said to be worth crores of rupees, was reportedly stopped by Indian authorities.[30]

Locations

Tsaskur, alternately spelled as Tsoskur, is an Indian administered campsite located 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south west of Dumchele.[31] Areas between Dumchele and Demchok such as Nagtsang, Nakung, and Lungma-Serding, Skakjung are China administered territories.[32] Kegu Naro is a day's march from Dumchele.[9]

Notes
  1. Variations of the spelling include Dumchule,[1] Dumchulle,[2] and Doom Cheley.[3] Older British documents often called it Dumche La.[4]
  2. Alternative spellings include Keegunaru,[8] Kegu Naro[9] and Gegu Naruo (in Chinese sources). It may also be found in the Chinese pinyin transcription as Jigunalu.
  3. The coordinates of Chibra given in the Gazetteer of Kashmir and Ladakh, 79°10′N 83°5′E, are virtually the same as those of Dumchele.[14] The name Chibra disappeared from the British literature after 1850s.
  4. The rivulet coming down from the Chang La pass is called "Xingong Lungpa" on Chinese maps. It is obtained by the merger of two further streams coming down from mountain heights. On the Indus bed, the rivulet divides, with a large strand flowing into a lake that has formed near Dumchele.
  5. Demchok extended to the southern side of the rivulet in Strachey's view, which was under the control of Tibet. The Chinese call this village Dêmqog, which is the Tibetan pinyin spelling of Demchok.

References
  1. Claude Arpi, China must come clean on whether it considers Ladakh a 'disputed territory', Daily O, 13 August 2016.
  2. Bhattacharji, Ladakh (2012): "Like in Dumchulle on the right bank of the Indus across from Dungti on the Nyoma–Demchog road, where it is about 16 km in Indian territory."
  3. Ladakh MP claims China occupied Indian territory under Congress rule, hits out at Rahul Gandhi, Scroll.in, 10 June 2020.
  4. Report on the External Land Trade of the Punjab, Punjab (India). Land Records Department, 1906, p. 1: "The Lahaulis going to the south turn off at Dongtchi [Dungti] and go by the Dumche La to Chakang and by Demchok to Tashigong."
  5. P.Stobdan, Ladakh concern overrides LAC dispute, The Tribune, 28 May 2020.
  6. 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.
  7. Chaudhry, Praveen K.; Vanduzer-Snow, Marta (2011). The United States and India: A History Through Archives: The Later Years: Volume 2. SAGE Publications India. p. 202. ISBN 978-81-321-0678-4.
  8. Report of the Officials, Indian Report, Part 2 (1962), p. 12–13: "The pastures in the Spanggur area have been the close preserve of the inhabitants of Chushul; and the pastures of Keegunaru valley were utilised by the Koyul people."
  9. Stobdan, Phunchok (26 April 2013). "The Ladakh drift". Indian Express.: "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."
  10. Cheema, Brig Amar (2015), The Crimson Chinar: The Kashmir Conflict: A Politico Military Perspective, Lancer Publishers, pp. 188–189, ISBN 978-81-7062-301-4
  11. Drew, Upper-Indus Basin (1873), p. 462.
  12. Drew, The Jummoo and Kashmir Territories (1875), p. 315: "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."
  13. Moorcroft & Trebeck, Travels in the Himalayan Provinces, Vol. 1 (1841), p. 441.
  14. Gazetteer of Kashmir and Ladak, Calcutta: Superintendent of Government Printing, 1890, p. 268
  15. Moorcroft & Trebeck, Travels in the Himalayan Provinces, Vol. 1 (1841), p. 440.
  16. Moorcroft & Trebeck, Travels in the Himalayan Provinces, Vol. 1 (1841), p. 444.
  17. Grist, Nicky (1995), "Moorcroft & Ladakh Studies", in Henry Osmaston; Philip Denwood (eds.), Recent Research on Ladakh 4 & 5: Proceedings of the Fourth and Fifth International Colloquia on Ladakh, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., pp. 332–333, ISBN 978-81-208-1404-2
  18. Moorcroft & Trebeck, Travels in the Himalayan Provinces, Vol. 1 (1841), p. 440: "... 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."
  19. Joldan, Sonam (Autumn 2006), "Relationship between Ladakh and Buddhist Tibet: Pilgrimage and trade", The Tibet Journal, 31 (3): 44–45, JSTOR 43300982
  20. Lamb, The China-India border (1964), p. 68.
  21. See Lamb, The China-India border (1964), pp. 72–73 for a description.
  22. Drew, The Jummoo and Kashmir Territories (1875), pp. 316, 496: "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."
  23. Schomberg, R. C. F. (1950), "Expeditionts: The Tso Morari to the Tibetan Frontier at Demchok", The Himalayan Journal, XVI (1): 100–105 Available from http://pahar.in/journals/
  24. Bhattacharji, Ladakh (2012), Chapter 6: "In the Chinese bazaar of Dumchulle, in the territory occupied from India in 1962, [...]"
  25. Daily Report, Foreign Radio Broadcasts, Issues 181-185. United States Central Intelligence Agency. 1965.
  26. 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.
  27. "From the archives - dated November 30, 1965". The Hindu. 2015-11-30. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-11-05. India has demanded from China "full compensation" for the damage to Indian life and property by intruding Chinese troops near Tsaskur in Ladakh on September 19 last. The demand was made in a note handed to the Chinese Embassy here [New Delhi] on November 26 and made public to-day [November 29].
  28. "Indian Army celebrates Cho La Day to commemorate 1967 action against PLA". South Asia Monitor. IANS. 2 October 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  29. PTI (2009-09-21). "Smuggling rampant along LAC in Ladakh". Deccan Herald.
  30. Arpi, Claude (23 August 2019). "Is there a way forward for India-China in Ladakh?". Indian Defence Review.
  31. 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.
  32. Gangadharan, Surya (29 May 2020). "As China 'Inches' In, India Cannot Afford To Yield Ground In Ladakh". StratNewsGlobal.

Bibliography
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