LEC — Line of Existing Control ; or what could’ve been.

LEC: Or what could’ve been.

As we’re all watching daily on the idiot box, the audacity and blatant disregard of the CCP on sovereign soil of India and since I was feeling scripturient, it would be prudent of me to shed some light onto the matter of what exactly is the LAC (Line of Actual Control) or what should’ve rather been the LEC (Line of Existing Control) had the then government paid heed to the Military intelligence and personnel back in 1962, 1993 or 1996.

Just a few months after the Chinese plagued the world with their lab made experiment of the Corona virus, they thought to themselves a new hobby of annexing land that doesn’t rightfully belong to them. All things said and done, it was the best time to hit the Elephant, when it was jostling with one of the worst Chinese products ever made i.e. the Covid-19 and one of the worst Chinese allies i.e. Pakistan. But as memory would go, this wasn’t a stand that was taken up just during the 2017 Doklam standoff, or the Daulat Beg Oldi incident of 2013, it’s a rivalry that goes well before that, back to the Sino-Indian war of 1962; Independent India’s first embarrassment at the hands of the Chinese, because the then Prime Minister of India wanted a Nobel Peace Prize.

The term Line of Actual Control was first coined by the then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1959, in his letter written to Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India, demarcating what the Chinese thought to be the official demarcation of the international border demarcating both countries. Albeit, the PM at that time didn’t pay much heed to this term and rejected it outright, when the war of 1962 was over due to the Chinese army receding after annexing what was technically sovereign Indian soil, the term came into play. This was the Chinese proverbial middle finger to the Shimla accord of 1914 with British India and the State of Tibet (which also the Chinese don’t consider much rather than their North East Frontier Agency, in which they conveniently have included Arunachal Pradesh or as they like to call it, South Tibet. It was here that the term of McMahon line was coined based on the then British Colonial Administrator, Sir Henry McMahon. It was basically the official internationally recognized border demarcation signed between India and Tibet, laying between Bhutan on the West and the Brahmaputra River on the East. It’s amazing to see such outright disregard and myopic vision of the Chinese on such political, geographical, and socio-economic matters which consider territories of other countries as their own. If you are thinking that it’s only India who is bearing the brunt of such Chinese incursions, you’re absolutely wrong. They have done this with Mongolia, Russia, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan, Laos, and of course, Tibet. It seems the world is wrong, but only China is right on what their country seems to extend to.

Let’s get into the treaties signed on the Sino-India accord, because politically, here is where the trouble started and psycho-socially this is where it gets interesting. These accords give you an idea of how geo-politically weak India was until recently, where such treaties; with one sided notions and absolute authority were displayed by the Chinese which was unequivocally agreed to by the Indian government at the time, despite the gonzo efforts of reporters who would make you think otherwise. The treaty per say stated in cordial conditions that both sides will oblige each other with what was then demarcated as the Line of Actual Control, keeping minimal troops on the border, not escalating situations militarily and dealing with minor if any transgressions on higher diplomatic levels rather than on the ground. Then they politely stated that 20 km on either sides of the border, the armies will not be allowed to open fire on each other despite transgressions; which obviously will happen by mistake on the Chinese side. There will be no fighter planes along the LAC either fearing intrusion into each other’s airspace. This treaty was signed without consultation from the Military at that time, despite higher up Generals of the Indian Army asking for changes to the wording. The Indian government at the time (who shall not be mentioned, but is obviously understood) did not even think twice about this ostentatious demand by the Chinese and went ahead and signed it, in 1993. This sort of affable behaviour for a country who in 1962 took 40000 sq km of land in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, i.e. the Aksai Chin, who audaciously and conveniently took Ladakh as a sovereign, inherited territory of China, partnered with Pakistan in 1963 to pay them off for a portion of land between POK and Aksai Chin, who on an international front, amicably agreed that J&K was an undeniable part of Pakistan, the same China, who condemned the absorption of Sikkim into India, who even ignored the McMahon Line in Arunachal Pradesh to lay claim to it and rename it as South Tibet, the same country was given our land, on a platter by our government in the treaty for “Maintenance of Peace and Tranquility along the LAC” of 1993, “Confidence building measures in the Military field along the LAC” in 1996, “ Protocol on the Modalities for the Implementation of Confidence-Building Measures along the LAC” of 2005, “ Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for the Settlement of the China-India Boundary Question” 2005, “Establishment of a Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on China-India Border Affairs” 2012, “Border Defense Cooperation Agreement between India and China” 2013; all bowing India down to its knees along the LAC despite not being at fault and despite losing miles and miles of land to undue annexation by the PLA. All one wonders after such horrendous decisions is, was the government working for India or for the PLA?

Numerous of these contretemps resulted in a dual front rivalry that was brewing in the Indian Subcontinent that was foreseen by the military and intelligence but alas not by the government. We held a sesquipedalian border with China extending 3500 km or so, which was left unguarded by most of the military forces as there wasn’t any road network or bridge cluster to fill the fjords of the rocky Himalayan landscape. Despite best attempts by the paramilitary forces of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police force and the newly disclosed Special Frontier Forces to urge the government on building the infrastructure leading to the LAC, which as usual was ignored by the higher ups as apparently in our country a Public Servant is the owner of the country. Since the magnanimous change of governance in 2014, it was clear that not only the LOC but also the LAC was on the forefront agenda of the emerging governments. Multiple bridges and road networks were founded and rail networks were laid. Airports for military use and arms and ammunition storages were founded and fortification of our disregarded and dilapidated borders started. Military exercises started and I particularly remember one incident on the inauguration of one particular bridge in the Arunachal region, the opposition sent out its brightest minds to bellow out how the government was building substandard projects and putting the sovereignty and safety of our army and our country at risk. To this, the IAF saw prudent to justify the stance of the developments and landed a Boeing C-17 Globemaster on the bridge to show the robustness of the bridge and infrastructure.

Despite these transgressions going on since 1962 by the Chinese, India never really stood up to them and nudged back. All this was about to change; to the disliking of the Chinese which took them by a shock in Doklam (Bhutan for those who didn’t know) on 18th June, 2017. Albeit Doklam is not a part of India, but on behest of the Bhutan government, the Indian army carried out Operation Juniper, where the armed forces landed 270 personnel with arms, ammunitions and bulldozers to oppose the Peoples Liberation Army of China, who began developing road networks on Bhutanese land without prior approval or permission, claiming that Doklam was a part of China, as with everything else. This confrontation was not expected by the PLA as India till date did not push back at China’s bullying, but things had changed at the centre and there was a new loyal nationalist who had had enough of being subdued on the border front, whether it was the LOC or the LAC. The standoff went on for a good two months after which on 28th August, 2017, both the countries withdrew their troops. This was the first piece of the dominoes to fall, now the Dragon had realised, the Elephant had awoken.

Multiple skirmishes happened since then every year with more than 300+ incidents of the PLA and Indian Army confronting each other in a rather peaceful conduct at the LAC. . This all began with a small yet significant incident on May 5–6 where an Indian army patrol unit of 250 braves, clashed with a PLA unit at the northern bank of Ladakh’s Pangong Tso lake, where stone pelting and slogan shouting were used and multiple injuries were suffered on either side. Then comes June 15th, 2020, when at 1900Hrs, the then Commanding Officer of the 16th Bihar Regiment, Col. Santosh Babu took 20 of his men to Patrol Point 14(PP14), to check if the Chinese had kept their word of disengagement at the Galwan valley and martyred 20 of India’s finest by trapping them at the gorge with reinforcements with barbed wires, spiked tools and stones covered in wires to attack the unarmed patrol unit. They pushed the Colonel over the gorge into the Pangong Tso lake and its icy waters to be martyred on a peaceful patrol. This brutal and barbaric act seemed to light a fuse in the hearts and minds of the Indian Jawans as they over powered the PLA turned their weapons against them. They then had a 1 km chase where the PLA retreated like rabid dogs fear water and were brutally slaughtered in a form of remorseless boorish display of strength, love, patriotism and character the world had not seen since the time of the Neanderthals. The PLA incurred losses of about 45–65 which was never concurred by the CCP but was pretty evident when their Premier inaugurated a line of tombstones of fallen soldiers at the Galwan valley paying homage to them. I guess its been correctly said, “Only the dead have seen the end of War”.

This incident led to the butterfly effect of what we’re seeing today. The standoff on multiple fronts between India and China, despite both the countries reeling with the Wuhan virus and its economic backlash, is what is required as of now from the government. For long the world has taken the mickey out of India’s defenses and its sovereign land. Despite all the sanctions China has laid down on India whether it is in the support of Pakistan, Ignoring India’s request for a permanent seat at the UNSC, financially and economically aiding Pakistan in abetting terror outfits to dismantle India, starting CPEC operations in the Gilgit-Baltistan province of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, despite multiple sanctions from the Indian counterpart. It is imperative that the Indian government now pays dividend to the Indian Military and Intelligence and braves a face off with China. It is only when you stand up to a bully that the bullying stops and it’s high time it does. After the Balakot air strikes in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region of Pakistan, Retd. Gen. G D Bakshi had alerted the government to not go soft and to get ready for a bi frontal war with China on the East and its rabid pet dog on the West. We have to make an effort to learn from the mistakes of our ancestors, who for selfish reasons sold off the integrity and sovereignty of our Motherland at the hands of the Chinese with the Aksai Chin in the East and with Gilgit-Baltistan in the West. Had they showed some spine, we would be integrated at a higher level. The Border Development Program has picked up pace under the current government and is bringing inaccessible areas for the past 70 odd years into access. Were laying down optic cables and building proper infrastructure. After the majestic move of abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A, not only were the UT of Jammu and Kashmir liberated so to speak, but also it was the legend of Ladakh, that had always played the underdog to J&K that emerged as a front runner. This is the time, when the world is siding with India in their struggle against the Chinese and the Pakistani infestation of this subcontinent. It is now, when the world realizes what India had been warning for the past 70 years about its neighbours and their toxic effect on this earth. It is now that we take back what is ours, it is now that we lay down the line of Existing control, which will now be played out through our books, it is now that rabid dogs be laid to rest before they bite others and spread their poison onto a world we’re all trying so hard to protect. It is time, for the Indian Army, along with its Paramilitary might, the special soldiers of one of the finest military powers of the world, to show to the world, that although we might not have the first attack policy and we might not have the conquer and expand policy of governance, we will categorically, unambiguously and conclusively finish whatever war or battle anyone wants to start with us, whether on the ground, in the air, underwater or on the economic front. It is time they see, what a cornered elephant does to the thickets in a forest, so I say, “Cry Havoc, and let slip the dogs of War”.