ARMY ADDS MUSCLE TO CRUCIAL OUTPOST

NEWDELHI: With the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) deploying close to 50,000 troops in Aksai Chin, the Indian Army for the first time has deployed a squadron (12) of T-90 missile firing tanks, armoured personnel carriers (APCs) and a full troop brigade (4,000 men) at Daulet Beg Oldi (DBO) to prevent any Chinese aggression from the Shaksgam-Karakoram pass axis, according to top military commanders privy to the matter.

India’s last outpost at Daulet Beg Oldi DBO lies at a height of 16,000 feet just south of Karakoram pass and on banks of ChipChap river, north of the GalwanShyok confluence.

As some bridges on the Darbuk-Shyok-DBO road cannot handle the weight of a 46 ton T-90 tank, the Indian Army commanders sent the T-90 tanks after the June 15 Galwan flare-up by fording the rivers and rivulets using specialized equipment. The armoured personnel carriers (APCs) or infantry combat vehicles , M 777 155mm howitzers, and 130 mm guns had already been sent to DBO after Chinese aggression at patrolling points 14, 15, 16 , 17 and the Pangong Tso finger features.

While India and China have decided to first totally disengage and then de-escalate from the area, the Indian Army is not only matching troop strength but also keenly watching the PLA deployment of tanks, air defence radars and surface to air missiles in Aksai Chin.

The disengagement is workin-progress with each side verifying the movements of the other, the commanders, who asked not to be identified said.

While the Indian military has also decided to black-top the advance landing ground at DBO, the main reason for deploying tanks in the area is to prevent any sudden Chinese move from the north, they added.

Already China has built some 36 kilometres of road in the Shaksgam Valley (5163 square kilometres were illegally ceded by Pakistan to China in 1963), and Indian military planners fear that PLA will link the G-219 (Lhasa-Kashgar) highway to Karakoram pass through Shaksgam pass.