Amid LAC tension, military maintains vigil on LoC

NEW DELHI: At a time when India and China are locked in a standoff along the contested Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, the military is also keeping a strict vigil on the western front to deter Pakistan from fishing in troubled waters and prevent what could turn out to be a twofront conflict, officials and China watchers said on Wednesday.

Reports prepared by the parliamentary standing committee on defence over the last decade have delved into the threat China and Pakistan could pose together. Pakistan was likely to step up hostilities if China were to launch offensive operations against India, a senior Indian Air Force officer told the committee in 2014. He, however, stressed that China might not pose a collusive threat if hostilities were to break out between India and Pakistan.

Officials tracking recent military developments in the region discounted the likelihood of India being drawn into a war on two fronts, but asserted that the armed forces were ready to ward off all threats. “The possibility of a two-front war is unlikely. But we have to stay militarily prepared to tackle a combined threat from China and Pak,” said an official on condition of anonymity.

The Indian military describes a collusive threat from China and Pakistan as “Contingency-III” , a second official said, asking not to be identified. Contingency 1 and 2 refer to individual threats from the two countries.

“Three nuclear-armed countries may not go to war at the same time. But China and Pakistan have deep-rooted military links. No matter how remote the possibility of a two-front threat, the Indian armed forces must stay prepared for any eventuality,” said Lieutenant General DS Hooda (retd), a former Northern Army commander.

The army has moved around 30,000 soldiers, several squadrons of frontline tanks, additional artillery pieces and fully-ready mechanised infantry squads to the Ladakh sector, as reported by HT on Wednesday.

“Recent encroachment by China in the Depsang plains and Galwan Valley have strengthened the possibility of the PLA attempting to cut through northern Ladakh and link up with the Pakistani forces in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in a war scenario,” strategic affairs expert Brahma Chellaney told HT.