Geography’s Curse: India’s Vulnerable ‘Chicken’s Neck’

[Echo_419]

In any discussion involving the Chicken's neck corridor, isn't it automatically implied that the PLA will be involved?

All the articles on the subject say as much.

No the PLA would not be involved

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

And why and how would Chinese intervention lead to this? I am not saying that PLA is incapable. But I would like to hear about concrete tactical/strategic moves. Let's make this a board game of sorts, shall we?
For privacy/security reasons - no need to name units - just the type and number(of troops) should do fine.
@Chinese-Dragon - you can decide the scenario ie who is at war with whom.

In what other scenario would the Chicken's neck get closed?

When people talk of the Chicken's neck, they are talking about another Sino-Indian War.

 

[SarthakGanguly]

In what other scenario would the Chicken's neck get closed?

When people talk of the Chicken's neck, they are talking about another Sino-Indian War.

Yeah that is fine and understood, now make your move(virtual). Remember this time you are no longer dealing with 'disputed' land but territory that your Gov accepts as Indian.

 

[eastwatch]

May be he is dreaming that big daddy china will help them.

I am talking of a scenario when a war breaks out between China and India. I am not talking Bd will start a BD-India fantasy war. I am talking about a Sino-India real possible war, PLA troops enter through the Himalayan terrain, BD remains neutral and does not allow Indian troops to take shelter in BD land.

Not talking about BD involvement in such a war, but IA troops will be in a great disadvantage if even BD remains neutral and does not allow sanctuary to IA troops. So, focus your lenses to that kind of scenario and count the days when IA troops will again be humiliated.

 

[eastwatch]

Yeah that is fine and understood, now make your move(virtual). Remember this time you are no longer dealing with 'disputed' land but territory that your Gov accepts as Indian.

Arunachal is a disputed land for the last two hundred years. If India insists on portraying itself the true inheritor of British over-extension over lands that never belonged to Delhi/Bengal, but to its neighbor, then the invading country also has the right to attack and annex those Indian territories that rightfully belong to India.

 

[Zabaniyah]

because BD is no Pakistan.

Seriously? Is Pakistan supposed to be some sort of benchmark for you guys?

It's been 40+ years, and key issues hampering business between Bangladesh and NE India still haven't been addressed.
The trade opportunities in Northeast India | VIEWS & REVIEWS | Financial Express :: Financial Newspaper of Bangladesh

So I ask again, free trade in what? How?

 

[SarthakGanguly]

Arunachal is a disputed land for the last two hundred years. If India insists on portraying itself the true inheritor of British over-extension over lands that never belonged to Delhi/Bengal, but to its neighbor, then the invading country also has the right to attack and annex those Indian territories that rightfully belong to India.

That's cool mate. Point is how do you propose to attack/invade India? What are the concrete moves? Don't say like raise this army/that corp etc. Answer about possible thrusts from specific directions. Otherwise it's just wishful thinking on steroids.

 

[INDIC]

Arunachal is a disputed land for the last two hundred years. If India insists on portraying itself the true inheritor of British over-extension over lands that never belonged to Delhi/Bengal, but to its neighbor, then the invading country also has the right to attack and annex those Indian territories that rightfully belong to India.

Which neighbor.  

Silly me. I should have added this map that came with the article -

Perhaps you are forgetting the embargo of 1971 when even a bird could not trespass into East Pakistan without the permission of India which made your liberation possible quite easy.

 

[eastwatch]

That's cool mate. Point is how do you propose to attack/invade India? What are the concrete moves? Don't say like raise this army/that corp etc. Answer about possible thrusts from specific directions. Otherwise it's just wishful thinking on steroids.

Did I ever say in any of my posts that BD would attack India? You should first read the starter post.

By Ankit Panda

The Diplomat - November 8, 2013

 

[SarthakGanguly]

Did I ever say in any of my posts that BD would attack India? You should first read the starter post.

By Ankit Panda

The Diplomat - November 8, 2013

Of course not. I was just asking for a practical view. Never mind

 

[jaunty]

Bangladeshis should worry about its own chicken neck, for more refer to the following post by @Roybot

Myanmar And Bangladesh In US’ China-Containment Strategy – Analysis

 

[eastwatch]

Bangladeshis should worry about its own chicken neck, for more refer to the following post by @Roybot

Myanmar And Bangladesh In US’ China-Containment Strategy – Analysis

I wonder since when Roybot has become a defense expert even though I believe he has been deputed in this forum by an infamous Indian Agency. But, does he know that the red area in the left of BD map points to a place called HILI that saw the longest battle in 1971 though the Muktis were also quite active there.

This place is strategically located. So, BA has all the men and guns to resist assault by at least five IA divisions.IA strategists had visited and surveyed the area after the 1971 war to understand what made it so defensible. Today, BA has changed quite a few landscapes there to make the place more defensible.

We are talking about the Chicken Neck, but the Indian posters are as usual trolling and are trying to overshadow India's vulnerability there by pointing towards another point that does not merit any discussion.

 

[MilSpec]

In any discussion involving the Chicken's neck corridor, isn't it automatically implied that the PLA will be involved?

All the articles on the subject say as much.

. looks like minimum credible deterrence works only against India, not china... ??

 

[kinsr]

I am talking of a scenario when a war breaks out between China and India. I am not talking Bd will start a BD-India fantasy war. I am talking about a Sino-India real possible war, PLA troops enter through the Himalayan terrain, BD remains neutral and does not allow Indian troops to take shelter in BD land.

Not talking about BD involvement in such a war, but IA troops will be in a great disadvantage if even BD remains neutral and does not allow sanctuary to IA troops. So, focus your lenses to that kind of scenario and count the days when IA troops will again be humiliated.

@eastwatch ... you should read more about this "Siliguri Corridor" or the "Chickens Neck" area of India b4 dreaming up scenarios about India getting humiliated.

This corridor is one of the most fortified places in India as equal to LoC if not more. The Eastern Command of IA, based in Kolkatta,WB, is one of the largest where its basic role is more of defense than offense. If the need be India will move into the sovereign territory of BD to counter any Chinese thrust from the north, because this corridor is too crucial to be lost. In case of a war with China, BD wont be able to turn against India or even remain neutral. You wouldn't want to loose half of north of BD by turning enemy to India.

 

[AnnoyingOrange]

I wonder what does the author has to say about Andaman and Nicobar Islands.....and Lakshadweeep...

By Ankit Panda


The Diplomat - November 8, 2013

If you’ve been following The Pulse here at The Diplomat recently, you may have noted a few recent pieces (including one by yours truly) on India’s North-Eastern states. In any discussion of the governance problems or border issues in India’s North-East, a commonly mentioned word is “isolation.” The North-Eastern states are politically and geographically distant from New Delhi, and certain parts of the region share more in common culturally with Burma than they do with Punjab, or even West Bengal. A quirk of South Asian political geography has made it quite challenging for New Delhi to effectively integrate the North-Eastern states: the Siliguri Corridor.


Like most of the borders in South Asia, the Siliguri Corridor – known also as the “Chicken’s Neck”– is a cartographic relic of the British decolonization process. As the British Empire withdrew and partitioned British India along religious lines to create the modern states of India and Pakistan (which was then divided into East and West Pakistan), it drew the lines that lead to the Siliguri in an attempt to maintain contiguity between Bengal and Assam. The creation of East Pakistan (which became Bangladesh in 1971) along religious lines necessitated the awkward choke point in India’s contemporary geography. The Siliguri, at its slimmest point, puts less than a marathon’s distance between the Bangladeshi and Nepalese borders (14 miles).

All land trade between North-East India’s 40 million denizens and the rest of the country traverses the Siliguri owing to the lack of a free-trade agreement between India and Bangladesh. In 2002, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh joined India in discussing a proposal to create a free-trade agreement that would have facilitated the movement of goods across the Siliguri corridor, but no such agreement has been established. Further reinforcing the strategic precariousness of the region is the fact that a single-line railway is all that carries rail-based freight across the Siliguri. The harsh topography of the region makes the railway and roads subject to damage from frequent landslides and natural disaster; India’s North-East is known for its record-breaking levels of rainfall.


As if natural disasters were not enough to send the Siliguri to the top of the list of India’s strategic anxieties, the corridor has a complex and troubled political history. The situation has somewhat improved since the pre-1971 era, when icy relations with China in the north and East Pakistan meant that the region was a constant source of cross-border tension. Since the 1962 war with China, Indian strategists have envisioned a future scenario where "the Chinese may simply bypass and drop Special Forces to choke vulnerable Siliguri Corridor and cut off the Northeast.” China’s diplomacy with Bhutan gives reason to take this possibility seriously; in 1996, China began a concerted diplomatic effort to yield a border claim with Bhutan in exchange for the Doklam Plateau. The territorial swap with Bhutan would place in China’s hands the key to India’s choke point in the Siliguri.


India’s fortunes in the Siliguri were slightly ameliorated when the tiny monarchy of Sikkim – situated just north of the Siliguri, between Nepal, China, and Bhutan – merged with India in 1975 to become its second-smallest state. Sikkim had long been a subject of controversy between India and China. In the early 2000s, China refused to acknowledge Sikkim as part of India, maintaining that it was an independent state. The decision to do so was sparked by a controversy around the 17th Karmapa of the Black Hat branch of Tibetan Buddhism. Nevertheless, in 2003, China granted de facto recognition of Sikkim as a part of India by ceasing to list it as a separate state on its official documents and maps.


In acknowledgement of its importance to India’s national security, the state maintains a heavy patrol presence in the Siliguri region. The Indian Army, the Assam Rifles, the Border Security Force, and the West Bengal Police all patrol the region. India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) is known to closely observe Nepalese, Bhutanese, and Bangladeshi activity in the region as well. Among other issues, the Siliguri has been vulnerable to illegal Bangladeshi immigration into India. Certain analysts have also speculated that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has attempted to exploit the Siliguri via Nepal-based insurgents.


The Siliguri Corridor is a terrifyingly vulnerable artery in India’s geography. For Indians in the North-East, every look at a map is a sobering reminder of just how fragile their physical and economic tether to the rest of the country remains. Unlike so many of the problems India faces, the Siliguri Corridor’s vulnerability is a cruel endowment of political geography and essentially one it is stuck with. On the bright side, the current level of strategic vulnerability is far lower than it was in the past and can be further moderated with the establishment of a free-trade agreement between the states bordering the Siliguri.

Geography’s Curse: India’s Vulnerable ‘Chicken’s Neck’ | The Pulse | The Diplomat