Is all well on the India-China border?

WHAT IS going on on the northern borders of India? The Government of India says that all is well and no news is good news. China says that their troops have not intruded into the Indian territory as alleged by the Indian Media. The Indian Army Chief had announced that he would visit the borders to see the situation himself. Next morning he was advised to cancel his tour of the China borders lest the military situation assumes serious proportions. No noticeable movement of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) on their side of the border. So it all boils down to a scenario where one may say that something is cooking somewhere there.

Let us view the Indian scenario first. Nyoma- that is the name of a non-descript place in eastern ladakh where an airstrip existed since 1962 war. Now the Indian Air Force has upgraded it and big transport planes are landing there. Moreover, it has been officially designated as the Transport Base of the indian Air Force in Ladakh. It is being prepared to handle heavy air traffic of big transport planes, as and when a need arises.

Let us move to the eastern sector of the Northern border. The area is geographically called Arunachal Pradesh. In the 1962 war, it was called Nefa - North East frontier Agency. We Indians had lost that war and most of our casualties were in this sector. By the way, China claims entire Arunachal Pradesh as its own territory. China already has forcibly taken over 8,000 square kilometres of the Indian territory in Ladakh to construct a road from Xinjiang to Tibet. Moreover, Pakistan has ceded a large chunk of former Indian territory to china in the Karakoram area of Jammu and Kashmir. The hunger of china for the Indian land is unsatiated.

In Arunachal Pradesh, the local residents have reported that the movement of Indian Army trucks in the recent days is rather unprecedented. In a quick reaction and to calm the ruffled feathers of the Chinese, an Army spokesman said that there was nothing unusual in the movement of Indian troops to the borders beyond Tawang. It is a part of the winter exercise to test the alertness of the army formations there.

We may recall that the government and people of China are busy in preparing for major celebrations to commemorate the establishment of communist take over of entire China 60 years ago on October 1, 1949. The 60th anniversay is indeed a major landmark. The Chinese would not like any unpleasant incident to take place that might spoil the big party in Beijing. China has, therefore, no intention to provoke any border skirmish, what to say of waging a localised war.

The ultra right nationalist elements in India say that the Indian government comprises cowards and they are downplaying the Chinese intrusuions into the Indian territory. All said and done, all is not well on the India-China border and the need of the hour is to keep a constant vigil lest the unfortunate defeat of 1962 visits the napping government again. The people are wide awake and so is the media. So, we do see that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

http://www.merinews.com/article/is-all-well-on-the-india-china-border/15784647.shtml