Skakjung

Skakjung or Kokzhung^[1][a] is 45–kilometer long pasture land in 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]

Kokzhung area in a map of Jammu and Kashmir by Frederic Drew, 1875

India-China border dispute

Main article: Sino-Indian 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

Main article: Geography of Skakjung

See also: Geography of Ladakh

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]

See also

• Demchok sector
• Indo-China Border Roads

Notes

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