, 1954) 's border in 1874 Chumar is along the course of
Pare Chu river, close to Ladakh's border with Tibet. The Pare Chu river originates in India's
Himachal Pradesh, flows through Ladakh, and turns southeast near Chumar to flow into what the British called the 'Tsotso district' (now
Tsosib Sumkyil Township) in Tibet's
Tsamda County. After about 80 miles, Pare Chu reenters Himachal Pradesh again to join the
Spiti River. The Chumar settlement itself is in a side valley of Pare Chu, on the bank of a stream, called Chumur Tokpo that flows down from
Mount Shinowu. (). There is also a historic gompa (Buddhist temple) near the village and a Chumur monastery further upstream. Along the course of Pare Chu and its tributary streams are numerous pastures and campgrounds utilised by the pastoral nomads of Rupshu. Some of them close to Pare Chu are listed as Sarlale, Takdible, Nirale, Tible, Lemarle and Chepzile. The Chepzile campground is near a small hamlet called
Chepzi which boasts some farmlands. Two tributaries join Pare Chu near the hamlet: Chepzilung (or Chepzi stream) from the west and Tegopagna (also called Kyumsalung Panglung) stream from the east. Chepzilung originates below the
Gya Peak, a key point on the border between
Spiti (Himachal Pradesh) and Tibet. According to the map drawn by
Frederic Drew, who worked as a geologist in the administration of
Jammu and Kashmir, these two tributaries were border rivers of Ladakh. The notes to the map he provided state that the subjects of Jammu and Kashmir
grazed their cattle in the pasturelands up to the boundary, while the subjects of Tibet did likewise on their side. (Map 2)
Indian boundary definition By the time of Indian independence in 1947, the Indian administration appears to have conceded part of the valley of Chepzilung to the Tibetans. When independent India defined its boundaries in 1954, it also withdrew from the Tegopagna river to the east of Chepzi, and set the watershed ridge between Chumur Tokpo and Tegopagna as its boundary. On the Pare Chu river itself, the Indian-defined border is five miles south of Chumar, and roughly two miles north of Chepzi. This allows the Tibetan graziers unrestricted access to both the tributary rivers of Pare Chu at Chepzi. The combined effect of these decisions gave the appearance of a "bulge" in Indian territory near the Pare Chu river. The Indian government justified it on the grounds that the Ladakh's inhabitants had traditionally used the grazing lands along Pare Chu right up to Chepzi. The people of Chumar claim to have continued to use the farmland and grazing grounds at Chepzi until the recent past. They say that their access to these lands has been blocked by the Chinese
People's Liberation Army in recent years. The local nobility family of Rupshu continues to own the farmland and a palace at Chepzi. The Indian Army has said that the Chepzi grazing grounds were "beyond the Indian borders." But the locals are adamant that the Army does not understand their traditional grazing systems.
Chinese claims In the 1960 boundary talks with India, China claimed a boundary north of the Indian claim line. However it was still south of the general ridge line running across the Pare Chu valley. This border definition not only had the effect of cutting the bulge claimed by India (which followed the natural ridge lines), but it also gave rise to a second disputed area near Mount Shinowu, the source of Chumur Tokpa stream, cutting across the valley of the stream. By 2012, China was claiming a boundary further north, representing a "bulge" of its own territory, overriding and going beyond its own claim of 1960. (Map 3) == Sino-Indian border dispute ==