Did missing sheep cause 1967 tension?
A missing flock of 800 sheep and 59 yaks besides allegations of territorial intrusions and illegal constructions were part of the build-up that finally triggered the Sikkim border conflict between India and China in 1967.
Exchanges between the two governments dating back to 1965 reveal China accused Indian troops of stealing the flock of animals from Tibetan herdsmen operating near Sikkim border.
The 1967 conflict took place in the same area where border troops from both countries are currently locked in a standoff.
The accusation made by Beijing was reported in the Indian media and triggered a rather dramatic protest in front of the Chinese embassy on Shantipath in New Delhi.
“In the afternoon of September 24, 1965, a mob of Indian hooligans went to the gate of the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi to make provocation ... They made a huge din, yelling that China had ‘invented absurd pretexts for threatening and intimidating India’, that ‘China wants to start a world war over some sheep and a few yaks’,” said a note of complaint from the ministry of foreign affairs (MFA) in Beijing on September 26,1965.
The ministry of external affairs (MEA) responded five days later on October 1.
The MEA note said: “Like other Tibetan refugees, these four people had come into India on their own volition and without our permission and taken refuge in India. They are free to go back to Tibet at any time if they desire to do so... We know nothing of the yaks and as regards the sheep it is up to the two herdsmen concerned to take them to Tibet .”