AA Edit | Ladakh: Crisis won’t end soon

The reported limited disengagement by Chinese and Indian troops in parts of eastern Ladakh earlier this week should not delude us into thinking that the crisis at the Line of Actual Control, marking our border with the People’s Republic of China, is ending anytime soon.

Taking advantage of this country’s preoccupation with fighting the coronavirus pandemic, and the Indian Army’s deferral of its annual Ladakh exercises due to the nationwide lockdown, the PLA had in April-May encroached on Galwan Valley and Hot Springs, and occupied Pangong Tso lake’s disputed area between Fingers 4 and 8, and ramped up its forward deployment, not just in Ladakh but across the 3,488-km LAC, including in Uttarakhand, Himachal, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

After being initially caught off-guard, the Indian Army also deployed in strength to face the Chinese forces.

Now, after some talks at the diplomatic and military levels, both sides agreed on an “early, peaceful resolution”, but there is little clarity on what this entails. The Chinese foreign ministry only said there was a “positive consensus” at the high-level military talks last Saturday.

It’s fairly clear an aggressive China has a long-term gameplan, and the bunkers and concrete structures it built in the Pangong Tso lake area and elsewhere indicate it won’t leave in a hurry, unless compelled to.

Its aim is to occupy vantage points like Pangong’s Finger area (much like the Pakistanis did in Kargil in 1999), and with the PLA already deployed in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, it hopes to pressure India in Ladakh from both flanks, threatening the strategically vital Darbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldi road.

If as part of a deal Beijing agrees to vacate occupied land, it’s certain it will be marginal territory, not the vantage points.

Given the reports of China’s intrusion, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s demand that the government tell the people of India what is happening in Ladakh seems totally justifiable.

Even the BJP’s local leaders in border areas have said Chinese soldiers “are in our territory”. Why is the government attacking Opposition leaders instead of coming clean? Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s deafening silence seems puzzling.