Doklam standoff: Has the Army ordered evacuation of village near India-Bhutan-China tri-junction?

Amidst the ongoing Doklam standoff, the Indian Army has ordered to vacate a village near India-Bhutan-China tri-junction, reports said on Thursday.

As per unconfirmed reports, the Army has ordered few hundred people living in Nathala village to vacate their houses at the earliest. Nathang village is located only 35 km away from the place of the two-month old standoff between Indian and Chinese troops.

However, the motive behind the order is yet not clear. It is yet to ascertain whether the order to vacate village has been given to station thousands of soldiers of 33 Corp who are presently moving towards Doklam or it is taken as a precautionary measure to save civilians in case of any attack.

Despite the speculations doing rounds that Doklam standoff may escalate in near future, the Indian Army has said that the troop movement in the area is a regular maintenance move. As per report, Army said that they were in a ‘no war, no peace’ mode.

Top PLA analysts said that China will make no “compromise” on ending the Doklam standoff, as they launched a propaganda blitz on a group of Indian journalists here on how New Delhi has “misjudged” Beijing’s resolve by sending troops to what it claims to be Chinese territory.

India and China have been locked in a face-off in the Doklam area of the Sikkim sector for the last 50 days after Indian troops stopped the Chinese People’s Liberation Army from building a road in the area.

China claimed it was constructing the road within its territory and has been demanding immediate pull-out of the Indian troops from Doklam. Bhutan says Doklam belongs to it but China claims sovereignty over the area. China also claims that Thimphu has no dispute with Beijing over Doklam.