India ready to handle 2-front threat: Rawat
Gen Naravane takes stock of deployments in Ladakh a day after air chief visits bases in eastern sector
NEW DELHI: Chief of defence staff Bipin Rawat said on Thursday that Pakistan could try to take advantage of any threat developing along India’s northern borders but warned that the neighbour’s army would suffer heavy losses if it attempted any misadventure amid rising tensions between India and China in the Ladakh sector.
The latest flashpoint in the north was triggered by provocative Chinese actions on the southern bank of Pangong Tso, after which India made countermanoeuvres to occupy key heights.
Speaking at a seminar organised by the United States-India Strategic Partnership Forum on Navigating New Challenges, Rawat highlighted the threat of “coordinated action” by the militaries of China and Pakistan along the northern and western borders, and stressed that the Indian armed forces were capable of handling the joint threat.
The CDS said India’s military strategy to deal with a twin challenge would be based on identifying a primary and a secondary front for conducting operations.
His comments came on a day the army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane reached Leh for a two-day security review of the Ladakh sector, where India and China armies have deployed almost 100,000 soldiers and weaponry in their forward and depth areas.
The Indian Army has rejigged its deployments at multiple points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, including the northern bank of Pangong Lake, to prevent the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) from making aggressive manoeuvres to unilaterally alter the status quo in contested areas.
Tensions flared in the sensitive sector after the Indian Army occupied key heights on the southern bank of Pangong Lake five days ago to stop the PLA from grabbing Indian territory in a stealthy midnight move. Brigade commanderranked officers from the two sides met for the fourth time in Chushul on Thursday to de-escalate tensions but the talks were inconclusive with neither army prepared to make concessions
On Wednesday,IAF Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria visited front-line bases under the Shillong-based Eastern Air Command to review the air force’s operational readiness in the eastern sector. India has strengthened its military posture across the length of the LAC — from Ladakh to Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh to deal with any provocation by the Chinese military. India is also keeping a strict vigil on the western front to deter Pakistan.
The Pakistani army will suffer heavy losses if it attempts any misadventure. BIPIN RAWAT, Chief of Defence Staff
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NEW DELHI: The Indian Army has changed its posture from border management to securing the border on the 1,597 km Line of Actual Control in Ladakh after aggression by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in the Chushul sector, followed by additional induction of troops and support elements, people familiar with the matter said.
The PLA Air Force has also stepped up its activity in the occupied Aksai Chin area, with positions being militarily strengthened.
“The Indian Army is now in a secure border mode to pre-empt any Chinese PLA transgressions in vulnerable areas of Ladakh. The repositioning of Indian forces has been done to take the Chinese aggression into account in the area and to ensure that all positions are defended,” said a senior official, requesting anonymity.
The Indian Army has also matched the PLA’s troop reinforcement in the sector by deploying additional specialised forces such as the Special Frontier Force (SFF) that was raised to counter China after the 1962 war. SFF soldiers had played a lead role in pre-empting the PLA, which tried to grab Indian territory five days ago on the southern bank of Pangong Tso. Indian soldiers have since then occupied key heights on the southern bank.
The Indian Army has deployed a combat group -- a mix of armoured and mechanised elements -- in the Depsang Plains to match a PLA mechanised brigade and another combat group in Chumar to signal to the PLA that it means business and will not allow even an inch of Indian land to be taken.
India dominates the Demchok and Chumar areas, giving soldiers a clear line of sight to the Lhasa-Kashgar (219) highway, a critical artery for PLA logistics supply. The Indian posture in Chushul clearly indicates that any further PLA perfidy will receive a matching response, a military commander said.
While the PLA, under Chinese President and Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping, is blaming Indian Army domestically for aggravating the border situation, Beijing is making no effort to sort out the border row diplomatically or militarily by just restoring status quo ante.
“It is a dead-end posturing as this will not yield any results for PLA as neither side can deploy troops all along the 3,488 km LAC round the clock throughout the year,” said a second senior official .
Although military and diplomatic talks are on, Indian Army troopers are leaving nothing to chance and are prepared for the worst case scenario, with decisions being taken on the spot, and not by headquarters.