External affairs minister Salman Khurshid told reporters on Saturday that the new pact proposed by the Chinese “consolidates and brings together the protocols and mechanism we have in place, rationalises them and takes them forward somewhat”. India, he said, had given its own set of suggestions and suggested the changes it wants in the draft.
Regarding the recent incursion, the minister said that in the discussions “we were on the same page in saying that the mechanisms in place for dealing with such incidents have worked and will work”.
However, in a clear indication of New Delhi’s deep concerns about the recent intrusion, the minister told the Chinese Premier that it was important to analyse the two countries’ respective systems to see why such incidents happen and draw some lessons from the manner in which it was “satisfactorily resolved”.
Mr Khurshid noted: “The best thing was to flag for them that it’s important that we should figure out why it happened...This question, as to why it happened, has never been asked. Usually, the question asked is, could you please reverse it... We both need to do an analysis of why it happened, this analysis can be converged and shared.” The minister also indirectly drew attention to the three weeks it took to see the Chinese troops return from where they had pitched tents. “We should also take some lessons from why it happened... and if at all something of this nature happens, we’re able to address it with a sense of urgency and less passage of time than we had to suffer this time.” As for the proposed Border Defence Agreem-ent, he said it is not meant to replace protocols.