BEIJING: China laid the blame at India’s door on Monday for an altercation along their border in the western Himalayas involving soldiers from both of the Asian giants.

Both countries’ troops have been embroiled in an eight-week-long standoff on the Doklam plateau in another part of the remote Himalayan region near their disputed frontier.

Last week, a source in New Delhi, who had been briefed on the military situation on the border, said soldiers foiled a bid by a group of Chinese troops to enter Indian territory in Ladakh, near Pangong lake.

Some of the Chinese soldiers carried iron rods and stones, and troops on both sides suffered minor injuries in the melee, the source said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chun­ying said that last on Tuesday, Chinese border forces were carrying out “normal” patrols on the Chinese side of the actual line of control in the Pangong lake are.

“During this time they were obstructed by Indian border forces and the Indian side took fierce actions, colliding with the Chinese personnel and having contact with their bodies, injuring the Chinese border personnel,” Hua told a daily news briefing.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2017