Ladakh is a place of high-altitude pastures, lonely herders and desolate moonscapes — and a byword for intractable geopolitical disputes.

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NEW DELHI — First it was cellphone towers, new roads and surveillance cameras, popping up on the Chinese side of the disputed Himalayan border with India.

Then it was more run-ins between troops on each side, pushing, shoving and eventually getting into fistfights.

Then, about three years ago, Indian soldiers spotted their Chinese foes carrying iron bars with little numbers written on them — a weapon apparently issued as standard gear, and a sign that the Chinese were gearing up for hand-to-hand combat.

“This is how China operates,” said J.P. Yadav, a recently retired official with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, on the Indian side. “These are very planned things.”

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