India | Posted on Sep 08, 2009 at 12:35am IST

India keeps mum on Chinese border incursions

New Delhi: A day after Chinese border violations were reported one and half kilometres inside Ladakh New Delhi remains unwilling to take on the Chinese provocations.

New Delhi has reacted to the incident saying border violations are not an issue and stem from different perceptions of the Line of Actual Control.

Meanwhile, China conducted its biggest ever military exercise involving four military commands and 50,000 troops. The troops could also spearhead any future Chinese attack on Ladakh and the signals are ominous.

Ladakh has seen a steep rise in Chinese troop intrusions right from Trig Heights, Chumar, Pangong Tso Lake, Spanggur Gap to Demchok.

"We don't have a forward strategy and the Chinese seem to be having a forward strategy. They are pushing bit by bit Indian nomads Champas inside. Chinese nomads are being pushed inside by Chinese military inside Indian territory," says security expert Phunchok Stobdan.

In Himachal Pradesh Chinese troops have been noticed in the Bara Hoti grazing grounds and also in Sikkim's Finger Area forcing the Indian Army to deploy armoured vehicles for defence.

Chinese army patrols have also been seen making frequent visits in Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang. Upper Subansiri and Walong.

The mystery is that while intrusions are well documented and sometimes happen practically every day in a month India betrays a strange lack of action.

"We don't have an active deployment right on the edge of the LAC. We are deployed in the defence civil area. So both sides of the border or the LAC there is a vacant area because of tactical reasons so it is easy for both sides to venture into this area and leave tell tale signs," says Lieutenant General RK Sawhney, who is also the former director general of Military Intelligence.

Poor local infrastructure is a continuing handicap for the Indian Army and it says surveillance devices can only detect the movement of large bodies of troops and not small patrols.

The argument seems to be convincing but not convincing enough and it could be that the Army is under strict instructions from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to go easy on the Chinese.

"Why should we not be able to persuade the Chinese to have a concerted dialogue? Why should they keep dodging us?" asks Lt Gen Sawhney.

In fact the MEA appears singularly unperturbed condoning China's actions by saying they stem from differing perceptions of the Line of Actual Control.

"I would like to reassure everyone concerned that our boundaries are intact and we will certainly take care of such incursions," is all External Affairs Minister SM Krishna says.

While any cross border firing by Pakistan merits a strong reaction from India but when it comes to China it seems the asymmetry in size and power paralyses South Block rendering it unable or unwilling to develop a strong yet measured response to Beijing's provocations.

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter and Google+)

Comments (5)

All comments will be published after moderation