TheLine of Actual Control (LAC) passes along the southeast side of the village, along theCharding Nullah (also called Demchok River and Lhari stream) which joins theIndus River near the village. Across the stream, less than a kilometre away, is a Chinese-administeredDemchok village.[9][12]
The village of Demchok was apparently named afterDemchok Karpo (also "Demchok Lhari Karpo"), the rocky white peak behind the present Ladakhi village of Demchok.[13] However, prior to 1947, the main Demchok village was on the Tibetan side of the border.[14] The Ladakhi side of the settlement was still referred to as "Demchok".[15]
Chinese officials use the name "Demchok" only for the Tibetan side of the settlement and refer to the Ladakhi side as "Parigas" (also spelt "Barrigas").[9]This is apparently derived from a Tibetan namePalichasi (Tibetan:པ་ལི་ཅ་སི,Wylie:pa li ca si,THL:pa li cha si),[16] of a pastoral ground known to Ladakhis asSilungle, roughly halfway downstream toLagankhel.[17][18][19]
The Demchok sector with China's claim line in the west and India's claim line in the east. TheLine of Actual Control, shown in bold, starting fromCharding La in south runs north along theCharding Nullah to Demchok and then west alongIndus River to Lagankhel near confluence with the Chibra stream and then till confluence nearFukche with theKoyul Lungpa river fromChang La, then heads northwest to the mountain watershed.
Demchok is at an elevation of 4,210 metres (13,810 ft), on a stony plain at the foot of a pyramidal white peak called Demchok Lhari Karpo. A stream calledCharding Nullah (or Lhari stream) flows down on the southeast side of Demchok joining the Indus River. Thealluvial deposits from the stream form small plots for grazing and farming.Around the corner of the Demchok Lhari Karpo peak is ahot spring near Demchok, whose water is believed to have medicinal qualities.[20]
TheLine of Actual Control (LAC) with Tibet runs on the southeast side of the village along the Charding Nullah. Across the stream, 600 metres away, is the TibetanDemchok village. After reaching the Indus River, the LAC follows its right bank, according to Indian explorer Romesh Bhattacharji.[21] leaving the left bank of Indus under Indian control. The Chinese still retain a claim to the Indian part of the disputedDemchok sector and object to any construction there.[22]Along the left bank of the Indus River, numerous streams flow down from the ridge line in the west to the Indus, providing grazing grounds and campsites to theChangpa nomads.[c] The largest of these is the site ofLagankhel (La Ganskyil), which is historically regarded as a village with permanent settlement.[17][24] Some of these locations are now said to host posts ofIndo-Tibetan Border Police as does the Demchok village itself.[25]
An old travel route from Ladakh to Tibet, leading toKailas–Manasarowar, runs along the left bank of the Indus River. The route has been closed since the emergence of Sino-Indian border disputes. There have been persistent demands from the local population to reopen it.[26][27]
Demchok is a historic area of Ladakh, having been part of the kingdom from itsinception in the 10th century. The description of the kingdom in theLadakh Chronicles mentionsDemchok Karpo, also calledDemchok Lhari Karpo orLhari Karpo,[28] as part of the original kingdom.[29][30] This is a possible reference to the rocky white peak behind the present-day Demchok village.[31][32][13][d]The Lhari peak is held sacred by Buddhists.Demchok (Sanskrit:Cakrasaṃvara) is the name of a Buddhist Tantric deity, who is believed to reside on the Mount Kailas, and whose imagery parallels that ofShiva in Hinduism.[35][36]The Lhari peak is also referred to as "Chota Kailas" (mini Kailas) and attracts both Hindu and Buddhists pilgrims.[37][38]TibetologistNirmal C. Sinha states that Demchok is part of theHemis complex.[39]Ruined houses belonging to the Hemis monastery were noticed bySven Hedin in 1907,[31] and the monastery continues to own land in Demchok.[40]
The stream that flows beside the Lhari peak, referred to as theLhari stream in historical documents ("Charding Nullah" or "Demchok River" in modern times), was set as the boundary between Ladakh and Tibet at the end of theTibet–Ladakh–Mughal War in the 17th century.[41][42]
Demchok in a map ofHenry Strachey, 1853Map of the Demchok region by a British traveller in 1946[23]
In 1834, theDogra generalZorawar Singh conquered Ladakh and made it a tributary of theSikh Empire. Zorawar Singh is said to have built a fort on a hill next to the Tibetan side of Demchok.[e] He also launched aninvasion of Tibet via three wings, one of which passed through Demchok. The invasion was eventually repulsed. The two sidesagreed to retain the borders as they were before.[44]
The Dogras came under the suzerainty ofBritish Raj in 1846, as the state ofJammu and Kashmir.Henry Strachey visited the Demchok area in 1847, as part of a British boundary commission. He described Demchok as a "hamlet divided by a rivulet [the Lhari stream]", with settlements on both the sides of the stream. The stream was the prevailing border between Ladakh and Tibet.[45][46]The Tibetans did not allow Strachey to proceed beyond the stream.[47]
The hamlet on the Ladakhi side of the Lhari stream appears to have been minimal. Strachey's own map published in theJRGS showed a village only on the Tibetan side of the stream.[48] The map drawn by a Tibetan lama from the same period showed the same.[49]
Sven Hedin, travelling through the area in 1907, noticed only ruins of houses on the Ladakhi side, formerly belonging to the Hemis monastery.[31]According to the governor of Ladakh (wazir-e-wazarat), who visited the area in 1904–05, there were two 'zaminders' (landholders) on the Ladakhi side, viz., the representatives of the Hemis monastery and the former kardar (tax collector) ofRupshu.[14]The two appear to have lived in Demchok from around 1921, in a single building.[50]
According to the Indian government, the Ladakhi Demchok village was used for seasonal cultivation by nomadic farmers.[51]
The princely state of Jammu and Kashmiracceded to independent India on 26–27 October 1947.
In 1950, Tibet wasannexed by China. The Indian government developed concerns of security and decided not to allow the entry of Tibetans into Ladakh. A border police post was established at Demchok (presumably on the Ladakhi side), with a police contingent headed by an inspector and equipped with wireless communication.[52][f] In Chinese perception, this amounted to the Indian Army "invading" Demchok.[53]
During the negotiations for the1954 Trade Agreement, India asked for Ladakh's trade relations withRudok and Rawang to be reinstated. China did not agree. However, it was happy to allow trade via "Demchok"[g] andTashigang.[54] In fact, it offered to provide a "trade mart" in Demchok, which was not agreeable to India because India regarded Demchok as its own territory.[55] Thefinal agreement carried the wording, "the customary route leading to Tashigong along the valley of the Indus River may continue to be traversed."[56]
In 1954, India defined its borders with respect to Tibet, which ran five miles southeast of Ladakhi Demchok.[57] This made the Tibetan Demchok village part of Indian-claimed territory. In October 1955, the Chinese established a "Border Working Group" in the Tibetan Demchok village.[53]
During the 1962Sino-Indian War, the Chinese forces reclaimed the areas southeast of the Lhari stream. TheLine of Actual Control resulting from the war runs along the Lhari stream.[h]
According to the2011 Census of India, Demchok had 31 households and a population of 78.[59] The majority of the inhabitants areChangpa nomadic pastoralist.[60] The effective literacy rate is 42.47%.[59]
There is persistent talk of the nomads losing their customary grazing lands to Chinese occupation and their livelihoods being lost. The population is seen to be reducing as a result.[60][40]
As of 2005, the route from Demchok toLake Manasarovar in Tibet was closed and local trade with China was prohibited, although local residents admit that clandestine trade with China had been ongoing for decades.[26]
In April 2016, theDaily Excelsior reported that local discontent over Chinese army objections near the border resulted in demands for resettlement from Demchok.[61] Later in 2016, theNubra constituencyMLA Deldan Namgyal reported that the Chinese military suggested to thesarpanch of Demchok "to join China rather than [sit] with India" due to the infrastructural differences across the border.[61][62] Demchok residents protested after theIndian Army refused permission for the local residents to build irrigation canals, to avoid a reaction from Chinese army.[62]
In 2019, the sarpanch of Demchok said that residents of Demchok were moving to the town ofLeh due to a lack of infrastructure and jobs.[60]
"Chushul-Dungti-Fukche-Demchok Highway" (CDFD Road), once a dirt track along the southern bank of theIndus River, is scheduled to be converted to a single-lane national highway by 2025.[63] This has been a traditional route between Demchok andChushul, which connects Demchok toKoyul,Dungti, Chushul and beyond toDurbuk and Leh. The road was in poor condition in 2017 and attempts to improve the road met with objections from China in 2009. After repeatedincursions by China since 2013, in March 2016 theGovernment of Jammu and Kashmir approved the upgrade of this road. Since the road passes through theChangthang Wildlife Sanctuary, the subsequent approval by India'sNational Board for Wildlife in March 2017 paved the way for the upgrade of this road.[26][64]
^Modern Chinese sources use巴里加斯 (Parigas, pinyin: bālǐjiāsī) to refer to a broader area and use碟木绰克 (pinyin: diémùchuòkè) to refer to the village of Demchok. SeeDemchok sector.
^The survey maps list, south to north in the Indus Valley, the campsitesUmlungzing,Silungle,Sinakle,Nyakmikle ,Sikarle,Khordo Sirpale, andLagankhel. Lagankhel is actually the name of a larger river that joins the Indus, a few kilometres south of Koyul Lungpa river. TheBritish Raj set the boundary of Ladakh along this river, inc. 1868. But there is no evidence of the boundary having been enforced.[23]
^Scholars translate the Tibetan termlha-ri as "soul mountain". Many peaks in Tibet are namedlhari including a "Demchok lhari" in the northern suburbs of Lhasa.[33][34] "Karpo", meaning "white", serves to distinguish the Ladakh mountain peak from the others.
^According to the Ladakh member of parliamentJamyang Tsering Namgyal, "Zorawar Fort in Demjok was destroyed by PLA in 2008 and setup PLA's Observing Point in 2012 during UPA regime and also created Chinese/new Demjok/Colony with 13 cemented houses."[43]
^Similar posts were also established atChushul andShyok.
^These references to "Demchok" are to be interpreted as an undivided Demchok village, which was being claimed by both India and China.
^An Indian government letter dated 21 September 1965 stated that the "Indian civilian post" was "on the western [northwestern] side of the Nullah on the Indian side of the line of actual control". The Chinese Government response on 24 September referred to "the Demchok village on the Chinese side of the line of actual control" while it called the Ladakhi Demchok village, across "the Demchok River", as "Parigas".[58]
^abReport of the Officials, Indian Report, Part 3 (1962), pp. 3–4: "I visited Demchok on the boundary with Lhasa. ... A nullah falls into the Indus river from the south-west and it (Demchok) is situated at the junction of the river. Across is the boundary of Lhasa, where there are 8 to 9 huts of the Lhasa zamindars. On this side there are only two zamindars. The one is the agent of the Gopa [Gompa] and the other is the agent of the previous Kardar of Rokshu."
^Bhattacharji, Ladakh (2012), Chapter 1: Julley: "The LAC, [from] about 6 km short of Demchog, follows the right bank of the Indus, which can be waded across here. Trucks from China regularly come defiantly close to this point."
^Bhattacharji, Ladakh (2012), Chapter 1: Julley: "Yet, in November 2009, in brazen defiance of customs and international law, when people from [a satellite settlement in the] Demchog village, which is 8 km up the Charding Chu adjacent to the check post, decided to build a road under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the Chinese successfully prevented them from doing so."
^abSchomberg, R. C. F. (1950),"Expeditionts: The Tso Morari to the Tibetan Frontier at Demchok",The Himalayan Journal,XVI (1):100–105: "Demchok was not an exciting place at all. The frontier was ill-defined, although a stream, hard to cross at midday, was supposed to mark it. On what was unquestionably Kashmiri territory numerous [Tibetan?] flocks were grazing."
^abcHedin, Southern Tibet (1922), p. 194: "A short distance N. W. of Demchok, the road passes a partly frozen brook [Lhari stream] coming fromDemchok-pu, a tributary valley from the left. ... At the left side [Ladakhi side] of the mouth of this little valley, are the ruins of two or three houses, which were said to have belonged toHemi-gompa. A pyramidal peak at the same.. side of the valley is calledLa-ri and said to be sacred. The valley,Demchok-pu, itself is regarded as the boundary between Tibet and Ladak."
^The Middle Way: Journal of the Buddhist Society, Volume 81, The Buddhist Society, 2006: "For Hindus, Kailas is home to the great pan-Indian deity Shiva and for Tibetan Buddhists, it is home to the bodhisattvaDem-chog, the Sanskrit deityChakrasamvara."
^Sinha, Nirmal C. (1967),"Demchok (Notes and topics)"(PDF),Bulletin of Tibetology,4:23–24: "Demchock is a sacred place within the Hemis complex. The Hemis complex is very ancient (old Sects) and antedates considerably the Yellow Sect and the rise of the Dalai Lamas."
Ahmad, New Light on the Tibet-Ladakh-Mughal War of 1679—1684 (1968, p. 351): "Now, in 1684, the government of Tibet, headed by thesDe-pa Sans-rGyas rGya-mTsho, annexed Gu-ge to Tibet, and fixed the frontier between Ladakh and Tibet at thelHa-ri stream atbDe-mChog."
Bray, The Lapchak Mission (1990, p. 77): "The boundary between Ladakh and Tibet was to be established at the Lha-ri stream in Demchog..."
Emmer, the Tibet-Ladakh-Mughal War (2007, pp. 99–100): "The frontier with Tibet was fixed at the Lha ri stream atBde mchog (Demchok), approximately at that places where it is even today."
Handa, Buddhist Western Himalaya (2001, p. 160): "The hill of Lahri [Lhari] that stands near Demchok was fixed as the boundary between Lhasa and Ladakh."
^Lamb, Treaties, Maps and the Western Sector (1965, p. 38) expresses doubts: "There can be no doubt that the 1684 (or 1683) agreement between Ladakh and the authorities then controlling Tibet did in fact take place. Unfortunately, no original text of it has survived and its terms can only be deduced. In its surviving form there seems to be a reference to a boundary point at "the Lhari stream at Demchok", a stream which would appear to flow into the Indus at Demchok and divide that village into two halves."
^Kaul, Hriday Nath (2003),India China Boundary in Kashmir, Gyan Publishing House, pp. 60–61,ISBN978-81-212-0826-0: "Reaching it from Hanle, Strachey found Demchok a hamlet of half a dozen huts, not permanently inhabited, divided into two, one Ladakhi and the other Tibetan, by the rivulet Rha-ri [Lhari stream], which enters the left bank of the Indus."
^Strachey, Henry (1853), "Physical Geography of Western Tibet",The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London,23:1–69,doi:10.2307/1797948,JSTOR1797948
^Lange, Decoding Mid-19th Century Maps (2017), Fig.5, p. 357: "The depiction of Demchok consists of three black tents and a house. Green patches and the Demchok bridge, labelled as Demjok zampa (387), are also depicted.... A fork in the road is clearly visible next to the Demchok Bridge; one route turns [west] before the bridge (coming from the [southeast]), and a second crosses the bridge and continues [northwest]." (Directions adjusted as per map orientation.)
^Arpi, Claude (December 2016) [abridged version published in Indian Defence Review, 19 May 2017],The Case of Demchok(PDF): 'Kaul objected, Demchok was in India, he told Chen who answered that India's border was further on the West of the Indus. On Kaul's insistence Chen said "There can be no doubt about actual physical possession which can be verified on spot but to avoid any dispute we may omit mention of Demchok". Though Kaul repeated Demchok was on India's side, the Chinese did not budge.'
^Report of the Officials, Indian Report, Part 1 (1962), p. 25: "A little south of Jara Pass [the border] turns south-westward, crosses the Indus about five mile south-east of Demchok, and following the watershed between the Hanle river and the tributaries of the Sutlej river... "
India
Ladakh
