Jammu, Sept. 16 -- Lt Gen PR Kumar (Retd) | Where does the India-China boundary issue begin? Colloquially, the terms boundary and border are used interchangeably; a boundary is a line between two states that marks the limits of sovereign jurisdiction. In other words, a boundary is a line agreed upon by both states and normally delineated on maps and demarcated on the ground by both states. A border, on the other hand, is a zone between two states, nations, or civilisations. It is frequently also an area where people, nations, and cultures intermingle and are in contact with one another.

Three distinct steps are involved in boundary-making. The first step is to have an overall political understanding of the basic boundary alignment. This ...