Centre thick skinned against China's incursions in Ladakh

Rahul Gandhi has been accusing the Centre of keeping silent over the land grab by the Chinese PLA which is only increasing by the day. Unfortunately, due to image-deficiency and credibility-deficiency, his words never elicited a proper response from the government nor has his claim been given the due it should be by our media or public.

However, going by the latest intelligence report submitted by the Ladakh police. The report submitted at the annual Director General of Police Conference organised by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) from January 20-22 has revealed that restrictive or no patrolling by Indian Security Forces (ISFs) has resulted in India losing access to 26 out of 65 Patrolling Points (PP) in eastern Ladakh. Losing a grazing point along the international border or LAC is no ordinary matter.

With a neighbour like the Chinese, it never should be. Once you lose control over the grazing altitudes, you also lose control over your intelligence. In addition when you lose the heights in the Himalayas, taking on the enemy becomes a nightmare.

Kargil skirmish should have taught us at least. Several heights had been taken over by the non-State actors and the Pakistani Army along the border here to block our strategic Srinagar-Leh corridor and our brave jawans and officers had to defend it with their lives and take back the peaks.

Along the Chinese border too several incidents have happened including the one in Galwan which is still fresh in our memory and still we remain untouched by the same. How could the government be so thick skinned? An army communique said in response to the IB report that no land was lost to the Chinese thus. Or does the government expect the Chinese to correct their course and surrender the land meekly acknowledging their wrong doing? What is gone is gone for good. That is what salami slicing is all about.

Regional hegemony for the Chinese means taking territory, bit by bit. It is as simple as that. It looks nothing of consequence when they begin inching into our land everyday, but a year or two later we realize that a whole mountain is gone. China's salami-slicing has accelerated over the past few years. It is doing it in every neighbourhood.

In 2012, China established "Sansha City" on Woody Island, an island in the Paracel chain that China seized by force from South Vietnam in 1974 (Vietnam refuses to recognize China's seizure). China declared that Sansha City would be the administrative center of all of its claims in the South China Sea, including those in the Spratly Island group. It later based, permanently, a 5,000-ton paramilitary patrol vessel at Woody Island. Territorial salami-slicing against the Philippines is also proving successful. In April 2012, Chinese maritime enforcement and Philippine coast guard vessels began a protracted standoff over Scarborough Reef, located about 230 kilometers from Luzon and claimed by both countries. Lacking the material resources to maintain a continuous presence, the Filipino coast guard eventually retreated, leaving China in control of the reef. Chinese authorities subsequently roped off the reef and have prevented Filipino fishermen from returning.

The contest has then moved over to Ayungin Island and Spratlys knows as the Second Thomas Shoal. Ask Japan if they are willing to explain the impossibility of getting the occupied land back. It would be better if the government forgets Nehru for a moment and looks at the issue really serious.