Sultan M Hali
ONE year after declaring Ladakh and India Illegally Occupied Kashmir (IIOK) as part of Indian Territory, Indian troops are provoking China in the sensitive region. According to New Delhi, its military claims that Indian troops had crossed the border earlier this week near Pangong Tso, a lake at 4,200 meters, and engaged in “open provocation and caused the border situation to become tense. Following the furtive incident, India accused China of military provocation on its contested Himalayan border where a deadly showdown erupted in June — even as commanders from the two sides held talks aimed at easing tension. The Chinese military is taking necessary countermeasures,” the People’s Liberation Army’s regional command said in a statement, accusing India of “seriously violating China’s territorial sovereignty.
Earlier, India’s Defence Ministry claimed that Chinese troops had “carried out provocative military movements to change the status quo” in the eastern Ladakh region over the weekend. Pangong Tso is one of several hotspots where troops have massed since June. Military commanders from the two sides held talks earlier in the week in a new bid to ease tension between the nuclear-armed neighbours, who fought a border war in 1962 and have staged regular high altitude clashes since. Readers may recall that China had given a sound thrashing to India in 1962 and in the latest limited conflict too, there are admissions by India of its troops having been beaten up and over a score losing their lives. China did not confirm the latest incident, but its Foreign Ministry said its troops have “always strictly respected” the unofficial border known as the Line of Actual Control.
The two sides blame each other for recent clashes and the two armies have since poured tens of thousands of troops into the region. Military and diplomatic talks are at an apparent stagnation. India’s Defence Ministry, in a bid to placate its own public who are aghast at the myth of India’s might having been proved false, claimed that Indian troops pre-empted this PLA activity on the southern bank of Pangong Tso lake, undertook measures to strengthen our positions and thwart Chinese intentions to unilaterally change facts on ground.” According to Indian military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, Indian troops pushed back Chinese troops who crossed the Line of Control. Indians have been lying about the debacle from the very outset. Earlier, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi staged a choreographed drama of visiting Indian troops in Ladakh. In reality, he appeared to have gone to Ladakh but the visit was stage managed in a nearby location.
Indians are continuing to spin lies to hide their embarrassment. They claim that PLA soldiers walked into our area near the south bank of Pangong, but our soldiers were prepared and quickly pushed them back without any violence”. They tried to come in again several hours later but we stood firm. There has been no such confrontation in this area in the past. Meanwhile India is also trying to block the Chinese goods and services in India. Amid calls for boycott of Chinese goods, India has stepped up economic pressure on China since the June battle and repeatedly warned that relations would suffer unless its troops pull back. India has banned at least 49 Chinese owned-apps — including TikTok video platform — frozen Chinese firms out of contracts and held up Chinese goods at customs.
China has complained about the action and warned that Indian consumers will suffer. India fails to take cognizance of the fact that its cell-phone industry is totally enmeshed in Chinese products and services and disengaging with China in this field will hurt India badly. The ground reality is that India has become isolated and even its traditional friends like Russia are not supporting it. To hide its humiliation, India has withdrawn from a multi-nation military exercise being hosted by Moscow. At the last moment, India’s Defence Ministry abruptly confirmed it would not send troops to a multinational military exercise in Russia. While the KavKaz 2020 military exercises will take place 15-26 September at Donguz training ranges in Russia’s Orenburg. Total 18 nations: China, Pakistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Belarus, Turkey, Armenia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan, are set to take part in Kavkaz 2020. Although India was invited by Russia to take part in the tri-services train with a contingent of round 200 personnel to southern Russia in September for the multilateral Kavkaz-2020, but India has declined this invitation with a lame excuse of COVID-19.
The only country that appears to be backing India is the US. However, President Trump, although he is engaged in a trade war with Beijing as well as the prospects of a possible showdown in South China Sea, has issued nary a statement in India’s favour. The US is located thousands of kilometres away and even if it came to India’s support, it would take days. US is currently facing presidential election in Nov and its focus is inwards, besides combating COVID-19. Contrarily, India has managed to enrage each one of its neighbours; Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Now its worst fears are coming home to roost as its smaller neighbours, who have close ties with China, are likely to gang up against New Delhi and add to its woes. India may continue to provoke China at Ladakh but that is to its own detriment.
—The writer is retired PAF Group Captain and a TV talk show host.
