Lets stop dreaming - Human chains will not stop China
…Even as New Delhi talks of taking up the issue of border incursions with China at the “appropriate highest level”, up in the Himalayas, the Indian soldiers are using a Gandhian method to stop the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops from intruding into the Indian territory.
With the PLA making fresh incursions into the Fingertip Area of Sikkim, Indian troops are now blocking the Chinese soldiers by forming human chains.
“We are literally forming human chains to stop the Chinese from crossing over,” says a senior Army officer. “If they come in groups of 20, we assemble 50 men and form a human chain. They can’t after all push us and cross the border.”
Under the terms of confidence-building measures started between the two countries during the days of Atal Behari Vajpayee government, troops on either side do not open fire to stop intrusions in disputed areas.
…There have been 65 transgressions into Sikkim in the last six months and on June 16, PLA men entered the region in light vehicles and later returned to their territory.
but more worrying is this…
At the Fingertips Area, in north Sikkim, Chinese patrols have been coming regularly for the past two years, the last being on Monday. [ link ]
and taking up the issue at appropriate levels is certainly not going to “sort out China incursions issue”
…Dubbing Chinese incursions into Sikkim “unfortunate”, Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju said on Thursday that India would take up the issue with China at the appropriate level. “The issue of incursions will be raised at the next flag meeting with the Chinese and also discussed at the appropriate level. As responsible neighbours, we will sort it out,” Raju told reporters.
But I applaud the Minister of state for defence for being candid:
‘‘All this is happening because we are failing to assert ourselves as a nation on our stand on what we believe is ours,’’ Raju told meadiapersons here on the sidelines of a seminar on Indian ways of war fighting, organised by Centre for Joint Warfare Studies (CENJOWS).
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What realistic options does India have in the face of these constant low-intensity attempts by China to bully India?
Can India really win a war against China on the Eastern front?
I don’t know….
I will try and find answer to all these questions in the next few days. In the meantime, please contribute with your thoughts and comments.
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