Skakjung

Skakjung or Kokzhung^[1]^[a] is 45–kilometer long pasture land along the right bank of Indus River valley in Southern Ladakh.^[5] It is traditionally used by nomads of nearby villages such as Chushul and Nyoma as well as Rupshu. The Skakung pasture land can be used year-round because it rarely snows in the Indus Valley.^[6]^[7]

India-China border dispute

Changpa Nomad of Ladakh.

There have been several incursions by the China in this area. India has Patrol Points (PP) 35, 36 & 37 in this area, and China tries to block access to these. Due to the different perception of the border India and China and continuing Chinese incursions in Chushul, Chumur, Dungti, Phobrang, and Demchok has adversely affected the life of local Changpa nomadic herders. In January 2024, the Chinese troops tried to stop and pushed out the local Indian herders who were grazing their livestock in their traditional grazing area. The Indian herders challenged the Chinese petrol in the Tibetan language, "Why have you come here? Why have you brought your vehicles here. This is our ancestral land. We graze our livestock here".^[4]

Chushul Councillor Konchok Stanzin said, "Livelihoods of locals have been taken away in the name of buffer zones and patrolling points. Our nomads are struggling for their land".^[4] According to Ladakhi Indian diplomat Phunchok Stobdan, Skakjung went from being an Indian-administered area until the mid-1980s to a completely Chinese-administered area by 2008.^[5] India's opposition party Congress claims that the Narendra Modi-ruled government of India is covering up "territorial setbacks" in this area, while the ruling government has denied the charges as "politically motivated".^[4]

Geography

Skakjung, in western part of Demchok sector, is on the right bank of Indus River, north of Koyul Ridge, south of Kailash Range, southwest of Chang La pass, north of Kigunaru River, and Chinese-administered Dumchele trading village for cross-border trade lies in it. In the disputed Demchok sector between China and India, the Chinese claim line on the west, the Indian claim line on the east and the Line of Actual Control in the middle.

Traditionally, it was a grazing area. The Indus valley here is about four miles wide, and sandy with a thin layer of grass.^[8] That, coupled with the fact that there is no snow here in winter, makes it a most important winter grazing area for the Changpa nomads.^[9]

Notes

^ Alternative spellings include Kuk-jung,^[2] Kag-jung,^[3] and Kakjung.^[4]

References

^ Drew, The Jummoo and Kashmir Territories (1875), p. 462.
^ Moorcroft & Trebeck, Travels in the Himalayan Provinces, Vol. 1 (1841), pp. 362–363.
^ Moorcroft & Trebeck, Travels in the Himalayan Provinces, Vol. 1 (1841), pp. 439–440.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Ladakh: Local Herders Clash With Chinese Soldiers Over Access to Grazing Land, The Wire, 30 Jan 2024.
^ ^a ^b Stobdan, P. (26 April 2013). "The Ladakh drift". archive.indianexpress.com. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
^ Drew, The Jummoo and Kashmir Territories (1875): "At Dora falls hardly any snow. This is why the place is chosen for winter quarters, the sheep and the cattle being thus able to graze on the extensive though thin pasture found on the flat."
^ I︠U︡sov, B. V. (1959), Physical Geography of Tibet, U.S. Joint Publications Research Service, p. 138: "The hills are almost naked and only down below, at the foot, is there a grassy cover which, despite its scantiness, is used by nomadic cattle raisers the year round – thanks to the snowless winter."
^ Drew, Upper-Indus Basin (1873), p. 462.
^ Drew, The Jummoo and Kashmir Territories (1875), p. 315: "This is where the Changpa [Changpas] of Rupshu spend the winter.... At Dora falls hardly any snow. This is why the place is chosen for winter quarters, the sheep and the cattle being thus able to graze on the extensive though thin pasture found on the flat."

Bibliography

Drew, Frederic (1873), "Alluvial and Lacustrine Deposits and Glacial Records of the Upper-Indus Basin", Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London: 441–471
Drew, Frederic (1875), The Jummoo and Kashmir Territories: A Geographical Account, E. Stanford – via archive.org
Moorcroft, William; Trebeck, George (1841), Travels in the Himalayan Provinces of Hindustan and the Punjab in Ladakh and Kashmir: In Peshawar, Kabul, Kunduz and Bokhara from 1819 to 1825, Volume 1, London: John Murray, ISBN 978-81-206-0497-1 – via archive.org

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[5] Alternative spellings include Kuk-jung,^[2] Kag-jung,^[3] and Kakjung.^[4]

[FOOTNOTEDrew,_The_Jummoo_and_Kashmir_Territories1875462-1] Drew, The Jummoo and Kashmir Territories (1875), p. 462.

[FOOTNOTEMoorcroft_&_Trebeck,_Travels_in_the_Himalayan_Provinces,_Vol._11841362–363-2] Moorcroft & Trebeck, Travels in the Himalayan Provinces, Vol. 1 (1841), pp. 362–363.

[FOOTNOTEMoorcroft_&_Trebeck,_Travels_in_the_Himalayan_Provinces,_Vol._11841439–440-3] Moorcroft & Trebeck, Travels in the Himalayan Provinces, Vol. 1 (1841), pp. 439–440.

[kak1-4] Ladakh: Local Herders Clash With Chinese Soldiers Over Access to Grazing Land, The Wire, 30 Jan 2024.

[Stobdan-6] Stobdan, P. (26 April 2013). "The Ladakh drift". archive.indianexpress.com. Retrieved 2020-10-30.

[7] Drew, The Jummoo and Kashmir Territories (1875): "At Dora falls hardly any snow. This is why the place is chosen for winter quarters, the sheep and the cattle being thus able to graze on the extensive though thin pasture found on the flat."

[8] I︠U︡sov, B. V. (1959), Physical Geography of Tibet, U.S. Joint Publications Research Service, p. 138: "The hills are almost naked and only down below, at the foot, is there a grassy cover which, despite its scantiness, is used by nomadic cattle raisers the year round – thanks to the snowless winter."

[FOOTNOTEDrew,_Upper-Indus_Basin1873462-9] Drew, Upper-Indus Basin (1873), p. 462.

[10] Drew, The Jummoo and Kashmir Territories (1875), p. 315: "This is where the Changpa [Changpas] of Rupshu spend the winter.... At Dora falls hardly any snow. This is why the place is chosen for winter quarters, the sheep and the cattle being thus able to graze on the extensive though thin pasture found on the flat."

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