By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, Dec.14: Indian and Chinese troops suffered injuries after a clash along the Line of Actual Control in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh last Friday, according to media reports. Around 20 soldiers from India and a much higher number on the Chinese side were injured, according to The Hindu.
“On December 09, 2022, PLA troops contacted the LAC in Tawang sector, which was contested by own troops in a firm and resolute manner. This face-off led to minor injuries to a few personnel from both sides,” the Army said in a statement, adding that both sides have disengaged from that area. The official statement from the Indian army said that commanders on both sides held a Flag meeting to discuss the events that unfolded in accordance with mechanisms to restore peace and tranquillity.
This is the first major incident of its kind after the 2020 Galwan incident where 20 Indian soldiers were killed and several others were injured following violent clashes. According to an unofficial source cited by The Hindu, a few soldiers sustained fractured limbs during the skirmishes and are currently being treated at a Guwahati hospital. Almost 600 PLA soldiers were present at the site of contention.
In October 2021, a similar incident took place when some soldiers from the Chinese side of a large patrol team were detained for a few hours by the Indian Army as the two sides engaged in a minor face-off near Yangtse. In the last few years, the Indian security department has significantly upgraded road infrastructure, bridges, tunnels, other storage facilities, and also aviation facilities. The LAC is divided into western (Ladakh), middle (Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Sikkim) and eastern (Arunachal Pradesh) sectors.
One Response
Ever since communist China invaded and illegally occupied Tibet, India’s national security was jeopardised! However, the Indian leaders at the time didn’t see it coming! They lived in a delusional world of “socialist countries don’t invade each other” cunningly peddled by the Chinese communists. India’s leaders were enraptured with the Chinese communist revolution and the growth of the socialist Movement! Nehru admired the Bolshevik revolution and was a great enthusiast of the Soviet Union. Mahatma Gandhi on the other hand abhorred the brutally of the Bolsheviks and their ruthless murder of the Czar family. Deeply distrustful of capitalism and a mistaken affinity towards the deceitful Chinese communists, Indian leaders sacrificed Tibet in order to be buddies of communist China! India endorsed baseless Chinese claims over Tibet and Tibet’s fate to be fed to the Chinese dogs was sealed! India inherited the British trait of thinking only for themselves! However, India’s sleep walking into the arms of the Chinese communist comrades was given a rude shock in 1962 when China attacked India and India was humiliated in Bomdila and Arunachal Pradesh. The Indians had to swallow the bitter pill of having been back stabbed and kicked in the gut by the willy Chinese comrade in arms! For a long time, there was chill in the air in the India-China relationship and Prime Minister Nehru died a broken man in 1964. Pandit Nehru as the first PM of India went out of his way to help communist China gains admission in the UN by removing Republic of China based in Taiwan by Changkai Shek. Despite such good will and sacrifice by India for China, China reciprocated by invading India and today it is blocking India’s bit to become a Permanent Member of the UN!
Communist China is preparing for war in order to occupy other people’s land illegally as they did to Tibet. If the Indian leaders had a strategic vision, they would have never allowed to dispense with a buffer that has kept China and India apart for centuries. Alas, they were myopic and were flattered by the deceitful words of friendship and socialist solidarity that the Chinese pooled on the eyes of the Indian leaders. Today, India finds itself in an unenviable place with communist China breathing down its neck on the Indo-Tibet border while Pakistan is helping China’s ambition of getting a footing in the Indian Ocean and dismembering Kashmir from India. Having two deadly enemies in the north and west, sworn to each other as “all weather friends”, India is caught between a rock and a hard place! Even though, External Affairs Minister Jaishanker has been full of praise about Russia-India relationship, Russia is a friend of China and in any event of war between China and India, Russia would do little except pontificating sanctimonious words to assuage the fears of India and China. Since, Russia is a junior partner to China, China will dictate Russian policy towards India in the event of a conflict. Even though many Indians still harbour the Nehruvian misgivings about the US, there is not much choice for India other than befriend America in the face of Chinese aggression. The Indo-Soviet Treaty of 1971 signed during PM Indra Gandhi, doesn’t recognise Arunachal Pradesh as an Indian territory. The Indians settled with “disputed territory” owing to Chinese insistence upon the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Therefore, since the Chinese are hellbent to salmi slice Indian territory with their irredentist policy, India should discard its pretence of being a so called non-aligned country and either join NATO or support Tibet’s independence. Tibet was never part of China and that it was an empire from 7th to 9th century is a historical fact! The Chinese fictional claim that Tibet “became part of China” during Mongol Empire is a fabrication and has no basis whatsoever. In that case, India could claim Burma and Sri Lanka as part of India, since both of them were ruled by the British Viceroy from New Delhi!!! Instead of being cowed by Chinese belligerence, India should instead serve the Chinese with the same medicine by supporting the Tibetan Independence Movement and awarding the Dalai Lama the Bharat Ratna. Only by making the communist regime pay for its recalcitrant behaviour, it will think twice before it is up to the next mischief. Until now, India has been compliant of Chinese demands but no matter what India does to placate the regime, it is reciprocated by more belligerence and aggression. It’s time to stand up and be counted than cower like a wounded dog licking its wounds.