Waqar Ahmed
Indian and Chinese soldiers are in a bitter standoff in the remote and picturesque Ladakh region, with the two countries amassing soldiers and machinery near the tense frontier. A video shot by an Indian soldier and shared on social media showed soldiers from both nations engaged in fistfights and stone-pelting at the de facto border, known as Line of Actual Control (LAC). The incident, which continued until the next day, resulted in few soldiers being injured on both sides. India believes that it all began with the Chinese onslaught on their forward posts. But it has come to light that it was India’s malevolence with maps and claiming territory, which even British had not marked, led to the war and tension in the region.
Beijing claims that Indian troops crossed into a region known in China as Donglang, called Doklam in India, early in June and obstructed work on a road on the Himalayan plateau. Chinese officials say the Indian side’s actions infringe upon an 1890 border agreement between Britain and China that previous Indian governments pledged to uphold. On 05 May 2020, a scuffle broke out between Indian and Chinese troops at the Pangong Tso Lake, located 14,000 feet (4,270 metres) above the sea level in the Himalayan region of Ladakh. The incident at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) continued until the next day. Three days later and nearly 1,200km (745 miles) away to the east along the LAC, another fight erupted at Nathu La Pass in the Indian state of Sikkim after Indian soldiers stopped a patrol party from China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The Chinese Army has been gradually ramping up its strategic reserves in its rear bases near the Line of Actual Control or LAC in eastern Ladakh by rushing in artillery, infantry combat vehicles and heavy military equipment.
India and China share a 2,167-mile-long border. Together, their populations are about 2.7 billion, more than a third of the world’s total. Both have achieved rapid economic development in recent decades. Both have nuclear weapons. The Chinese media has blamed Indian troops for transgressing the Line of Actual Control, and accused India of impeding routine patrol by Chinese troops along their Himalayan boundary. At least 10,000 PLA soldiers are now believed to be camping on what India claims to be its territory – Pangong Tso Lake, Galwan Valley and Demchok in Ladakh, and Nathu La in Sikkim. Over recent weeks, thousands of soldiers from the two countries have been facing off just a few hundred meters (yards) from each other in
