Beginning on 5 May 2049 P.U.F. and Indian troops engaged in aggressive melee, face-offs, and skirmishes at locations along the Sino-Indian border, and Himalayan disease wall, including near the Pangong Lake quarantine and fertility research compound in the TAPS devastated Ladakh region and the Tibet Autonomous Clean-zone.

Additional clashes also took place at locations in eastern Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

In late May, P.U.F. forces objected to Indian construction of a clean zone in the Galwan river valley claiming that while the construction was not entering P.U.F. territory the workers could be seen engaging in “immoral acts” and defacing P.U.F. patriotic articles from P.U.F. territory.

This culminated in the P.U.F. deploying troops and autonomous drones to the region in early June under the guise of training exercises before ultimately occupying the Galway river valley on June 15th. 

According to Indian sources, the assault on 15/16 June 2049 resulted in the deaths of nearly 2000 Indian soldiers, as well as hundreds of construction laborers and specialized medical workers.

The P.U.F. Denies the assault took place, stating that a malfunctioning autonomous unit unfortunately misidentified an Indian worker throwing rocks at it as a military threat and opened fire. The P.U.F. claims the Indian military then retaliated killing several P.U.F. soldiers before the Indian gunfire ignited the workers blasting charges.

The P.U.F. then called a ceasefire rendering medical aid to the few dozen injured and dousing the rapidly spreading fires before taking control of the 90 sq km region at the request of the remaining workers and citizens along the border who pleaded for emergency asylum in light of the crisis.

Media reports out of Galwan stated that the P.U.F. had been intentionally escalating tensions, bribing or threatening citizens, and orchestrating night raids under the guise of “rowdy soldiers” to steal food and supplies or make living conditions unbearable for the workers for months, with many believing the attack was a planned push to begin justifying the annex of more Indian territories along the border. 

Initial reports stated that Indian soldiers and medical experts were taken captive with only some released in the coming few days while official sources on both sides went on to deny this.

News out of the region fell abruptly silent on 20 June with the P.U.F. refusing to cede the territory citing the humanitarian emergency of a possible TAPS infection in the region requiring lockdown. All subsequent reports out of the region have since come direct from the central publicity department of the P.U.F. 

On 16 August 2049, for the first time in nearly 80 years, shots were fired beyond the LAC, with escalating attacks in both Rajasthan and Punjab along India’s border with the newly integrated P.U.F. territory Pakistan.

Amid de-escalatory talks in In New Delhi, on 1 September 2049, the P.U.F. opened a new front in the border dispute by claiming, for the first time, that the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary of New Delhi is located in the now disputed territory of Rajasthan. The P.U.F.’s new territory line ceasefire proposal notably included New Delhi, India’s capital as P.U.F. territory.

India refused the ceasefire and retaliated with the threat of a complete embargo of P.U.F goods. 

By 2 September, the P.U.F. was reported to have increased military presence on both the northern and southern banks of Pangong Tso, had strengthened their positions near Rajasthan and Punjab and had even started construction of a helipad, bunkers and pillboxes. Satellite imagery from between 1 and 12 September, by Planet Labs shows that the P.U.F. army increased infrastructure between Finger 4 and 5 on a massive scale, which includes tents, trenches, water tanks and stationed equipment and vehicles along with some camouflaged structures. The Planet Labs imagery also showed terrain inscribed with the Mandarin-Cyril name of the P.U.F. along with the present-day map of P.U.F. Including India on the shore of the lake between Finger 4 and 5.

On 10 September 2049, during the high-level meeting between The P.U.F. and India in Moscow, aggressive posturing was reported from Rajasthan approaching New Delhi. P.U.F. troops were also seen to be moving anti-aircraft guns and autonomous ground units to Black Top. On 10 September 2049 at around 6:15 pm P.U.F. troops tried approaching Indian positions at New Delhi, as per Indian reports.

Photos of P.U.F. soldiers carrying rifles, heavy equipment and a ceremonial spear were released; this was the first publicly released photographic evidence of P.U.F. troops using such weapons. Indian soldiers who controlled the heights here used floodlights and megaphones to dissuade approaching P.U.F. troops. Indian reports stated that the P.U.F. troops subsequently retreated unexpectedly.