Indian Army's credibility under question
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Chinese diplomats have been accusing Indian frontline troops of either violating the chain of command or being misused by their seniors.
They claim that the savage clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers in the Galwan Valley on June 15 was a result of the grave failure of the Bihar Regiment of the Indian Army to uphold the military doctrine of command control. Consequently, 20 of the regiment's soldiers, including a commanding officer, Colonel Santosh Babu, and an unknown number of Chinese troops lost their lives.
Global Times, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China, published a report on June 17 citing Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressing an earnest need to probe the incident and demand the strict punishment of those who should be held accountable. China also demanded that India strictly discipline its frontline soldiers. Wang expressed such views to
Indian counterpart,
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, in a telephone conversation held two days after the deadly skirmish. The phone call was arranged to lower the tension between the two countries. On the same day, Indian media also ran stories about the Chinese demand for an inquiry and punishment for the culprits.
In an exclusive interview for The Wire with a prominent Indian journalist, Karan Thapar, on June 18, a former Indian ambassador to China and foreign secretary, Nirupama Rao, also cast doubt on the wisdom of Indian soldiers entering Chinese territory at night.
When Thapar asked her whether questions could be raised about the fact commanding officer Colonel Babu decided to check whether the Chinese had withdrawn as they had committed to do at 7:30pm when it is dark, in an area that is mountainous and dangerous, rather than during daylight hours, Rao replied, "That is definitely a question that needs to be answered."
She added that it was unclear "whether it was Colonel Babu's
H S Panag, a retired lieutenantgeneral of the Indian Army, in a June 18 column in The Print, wrote, "The military hierarchy itself failed in its professional responsibility to advise the government to use force as per professional norms. The blood of these soldiers is on the hands of the government and the military hierarchy."
However, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing the nation for the first time after the Galwan clash on June 22, highly praised the deceased soldiers, saying, "Desh ko is baat ka garv hoga ki ve marte marte mare" - the nation will be proud to note that they died while killing the enemies.
Similarly, on his Independence Day eve address to the nation, Indian President Ram Nath Kovind said, "The entire nation salutes the martyrs of Galwan Valley…. Their bravery in combat has demonstrated that while we believe in peace, we are also capable of giving a befitting response to any attempt of aggression."
However, about two months after the Galwan clash, on the eve of India's Independence Day, the Chinese ambassador to India, Sun Weidong, again reiterated the Chinese stance.
In the magazine China-India Review published by the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi, he said, "We urge the Indian side to conduct a thorough investigation, hold the violators accountable, strictly discipline the frontline troops and immediately stop all provocative acts to ensure such incidents will not occur again," The Indian Express reported.
Finally, the Indian government admitted that its military committed a blunder in the Galwan clash, not by words but by its actions.
India awards medals for its military and paramilitary troops for their extraordinary courage to protect the borders on the occasion of Independence Day on August 15 every year. None of the 20 Indian soldiers killed in the Galwan clash were included in the gallantry decoration list. It seems the exclusion of their names from the list was a posthumous punishment.