GALWAN HEROES
pushback Indian troops,” Babu’s citation said. “Despite being grievously injured, Colonel Babu led from the front with absolute command and control despite hostile conditions to deter the vicious enemy attack at his position.”
Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in the seven-hour deadly conflict near Patrolling Point (PP) 14 in Galwan Valley, where outnumbered Indian troops inflicted heavy casualties on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). China has not specified the numbers of its dead.
Apart from 16 Bihar; soldiers from 3 Punjab, 3 Medium Regiment and 81 Field Regiment were involved in what was the first deadly conflict between Indian and Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in more than five decades.
Naib Subedar Nuduram Soren “valiantly led his column and resisted the enemy’s attempt to push back the Indian soldiers establishing an observation post,” his citiation read.
“During the skirmish, he was viewed as a daunting leader and was targeted by the enemy soldiers with lethal and sharp weapons. Grievously injured and asked to move back; as a true leader he refused, in spite of being heavily outnumbered by the enemy soldiers,” it added.
Havildar K Palani fought “valiantly and saved his subordinates from the aggressive action of the enemy soldiers”, his citation said. “Suddenly, the adversaries outnumbered and encircled him. With utter disregard to his personal safety, he stood bravely and tried to defend his comrades even when the enemy attacked him with sharp weapons injuring him seriously... His act of valour inspired his fellow soldiers to fight fiercely and resist enemy aggression,” it said,
The first wave of fighting in Galwan Valley erupted around 6pm on June 15 after Colonel Babu led a squad of 30 soldiers to a location near PP-14 to verify if PLA had removed some structures erected in the area despite an understanding reached on June 6 by top Indian and Chinese military commanders on a disengagement plan to cool border tensions.
The squad, however, found that a few tents and an observation post were still intact, and the Chinese soldiers had not retreated from PP-14. The Indian soldiers confronted the Chinese troops, who refused to remove their installations and vacate the area, triggering a violent clash that involved more than 600 rival soldiers at its peak.
Reversing the trust deficit created by the Galwan clash has proved to be enormously hard. India and China have been locked in a standoff in the Ladakh sector for over 18 months, and are currently negotiating a withdrawal of troops and weapons from friction points on the disputed border.
India has deployed 50,000 to 60,000 troops and advanced weaponry in the Ladakh theatre to counter Chinese military buildup and the possibility of any misadventure by neighbour whose belligerent actions triggered the border standoff in early May 2020.
PLA did not agree to suggestions made by the Indian Army at the 13th round of talks on October 10. The Indian Army said it made constructive suggestions for resolving the outstanding problems on LAC but the Chinese side was not agreeable and also could not provide any forward-looking proposals. China accused India of unreasonable and unrealistic demands in an unusually aggressive statement.
Military talks are unlikely to
result in a breakthrough and only higher intervention can show the way to resolving the 18-month border crisis, experts have said. There is no end in sight to the standoff, with army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane stating on October 9 that if PLA is there to stay in the Ladakh theatre so is the Indian Army.