india

Updated: Mar 13, 2016 13:50 IST

After a number of frequent incursions in Ladakh area, Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops have been spotted at forward posts along the Line of Control (LoC) on the Pakistani side of Kashmir, sounding alarm bells among security officials.

The Army has spotted the presence of senior PLA officials at the forward posts opposite Nowgam sector in North Kashmir.

Intercepted communications between Pakistani army officers suggests that the PLA troops have arrived to build infrastructure along the LoC, according to military sources.

The PLA troops were first spotted in the later half of 2015 as well as opposite Tangdhar sector, where Chinese government-owned China Gezhouba Group Company Limited has been building a Jhelum-Neelum 970 MW Hydel power project.

The hydel project is being built in response to India’s Kishanganga project being built in North Kashmir’s Bandipore.

The intercepts also suggested that the PLA would be digging tunnels in Leepa Valley, located in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), with a goal to building an all-weather road as an alternate route to reach Karakoram Highway.

Experts consider the visit by PLA officials to be part of Beijing’s 46 billion dollar China-Pakistan-Economic Corridor (CPEC), under which Gwadar port in Karachi is linked to Chinese Xinjiang province via the Karakoram highway.