By HH Mohrmen
The country is in a very difficult situation. It is literarily up against the Himalayas. On the one hand the country is fighting the pandemic which continues to bother both the central and the state governments. On the other hand China attacked the country in the Ladakh region during a very crucial period when the country is in the process of opening up the lockdown. The country’s economy is already in a bad shape due to the lockdown which was imposed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The government was hoping to push the wheels of the country’s economy forward. But the Chinese attack coming as it does at this juncture is like a blow below the belt to the country’s financial health. It is also a body blow to the Prime minister personally.
In the skirmish which happened on Monday night of June 15, soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) attacked and killed more than 20 brave Indian soldiers. It was also alleged that the Chinese military not only attacked our soldiers but they altered the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and captured some areas which belong to India. This is according to the statement of the Ministry of External Affairs.
I, for one do not support war because it only creates more hatred and bad blood and which only makes the two opposite parties bay for each other’s blood. In this short span of time many wars were fought and the only outcome is the death of young soldiers which brings sorrow to their families. It also brings only death and untold miseries to those who were directly affected by the fight. In fact war can only bring two things death and destruction.
However, in times of a crisis like this it is the duty of every citizen of the country to express solidarity with the army and give them the moral support that they most need. The country needs to stand solidly behind its armed forces, but at the same time we wish that good sense will prevail at the political and diplomatic levels of the two governments to prevent such incidents from happening again and also to avoid unnecessary loss of lives in the future. While supporting the soldiers’ families, one also wishes that there are no more wars and that no family has to lose their loved ones to untimely deaths.
After the attack in the Ladakh border there is an increasing demand for banning of Chinese goods in the country which one can of course understand and relate to. But the moot question is, if this even practical at this juncture? Can we really do away with all Chinese goods? For example this article is typed on a Lenovo laptop. Chinese cheap products have inundated Indian markets and Chinese investment is everywhere. In fact it looks like almost every successful start-up is being funded by China. Of course there is no harm in getting carried away but the country needs to look at long term approaches of dealing with China. It is not easy to slay the dragon, but there are ways that it can be rid off from one of the largest markets in the world.
Perhaps we need to look at the border dispute more carefully and the recent developments in the neighbouring countries should help us realise that it does not augur well for India. Perhaps it will also help us understand better if one cares to look at what had happened just before this attack in Galwan valley in the Eastern Ladakh.
The other Himalayan Challenge in the region is the tension between India and Nepal which has further deteriorated with time. The question therefore is if there is any link between the PLA ambush on the Indian army in Galwan with the new Indo-Nepal relationship which is worsening. The tensions between the two neighbours deteriorated further when India inaugurated a road linking Dharchula in Uttarakhand state to Lipulekh, as part of the Kailash-Mansarovar pilgrimage route. Nepal protested and the relationship between the two countries started going downhill. Nepal then retaliated by releasing a new political map showing the areas of Lipulekh, Kalapani, and Limpiyadhura as part of its territory.
The Nepal-India border was delineated in 1816, by Treaty of Sugauli which was signed between the British East India Company and the King of Nepal following the Anglo-Nepalese war. The other cause which triggered the Galwan attack could very well be China protecting its new found friendship with Nepal. In China’s gain India loses not only its neighbour and its ally but a country with which it has many things in common, but fundamentally religion. Nepal is a Hindu country as much as India is.
Sumit Ganguly, Professor at Indiana, University, Bloomington in his opinion piece which appeared in the South China Morning Post suggested that the abrogation of article 370, the redrawing of Jammu and Kashmir map and the circulation of new map of Ladakh could be the cause of tension not only with Pakistan but China too. India unilaterally redrew its map with the understanding that this is its internal affairs, but Ladakh also shares its border with China.
China has invested heavily in Pakistan and is getting closer with Nepal and if this relationship is further strengthened India will find itself being isolated by its next door neighbours. If the China-Nepal-Pakistan axis really happens then that will be a great threat to India. India will be squeezed by China both politically and economically. Pakistan will no doubt be a willing partner in the arrangement as it would love to see the Asian tiger bleeding.
Almost six decades ago, the two countries have fought a fierce battle against each other. The Indo-China war of 1962 which lasted for a month was considered to be a mistake and was called the Himalaya blunder. The same mistake of trusting China was made more than fifty years after the 1962 war. India need to realise that there cannot be ‘India and Chini bhai bhai relationship’, it has never been and it will never happen.
China is India’s neighbours and like they say, you don’t get to choose your neighbour but you can choose how to live and engage with them. China like the Himalayas is something that we cannot avoid; in fact we depend on it. Like the Himalayas the country need to make use of the mountains and use it to its own advantage.
During six long decades since the war, the relationship on the Indian border with China has never improved and the June 2020 Galwan attack will further aggravate the already delicate relationship between the two countries. India shares a border of more than three thousand (3488 to be precise) kilometres with that country from Arunachal to Nathula and Ladakh and the relationship in the border is far from being harmonious. In the past there was confrontation in the Nathula and Cho La regions in Sikkim and in 2017 there was the Doklam attack again in the Sikkim border. India is therefore facing a Himalayan challenge vis-à-vis its relationship with China.
It does not need an expert to see that China is exerting pressure across the globe and right now India is seen as a soft target. On one hand it has to fight the pandemic and on the other hand it is trying to revive its economy and China uncannily attacked India when it is at its weakest. India is in a tight spot, similar to the situation where it had its back against the wall while in front is the great expanse of the rugged and high precipitous terrain of the Himalayas. The point is the country cannot do away with its neighbour just like one cannot simply remove the Himalayas, but it needs to tread carefully in its relationship with China. Six decades ago Nehru had failed, so did his grandson Rajiv Gandhi and now Narendra Modi is also falling in the same trap and is yet again betrayed by the Chinese.