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India's acquiescence emboldens China
Changthang- (Ladakh)-A special development package of 6.5 billion (650 crore) rupees announced recently by Government of India (GoI) to improve the living conditions of the people settled in and around Changthang area close to the border with China is purely a humanitarian action as nothing had been done for these gullible residents over the years.
Apart from strategic importance of forward eastern border region of Leh district, successive governments in the state never paid any attention towards the welfare of Champas, nomadic people mostly poor shepherds, spread across a large swaths of high altitude mountainous land in over 20 villages who will be entitled to a monthly honorarium between seven and ten thousand rupees as part of the special development package.
Across the Line of Actual Control (LoAC) China has brought road connection to the villages on its side besides other facilities while this side is bereft of any development. The continuous neglect over a period has compelled the residents to leave their homes and hearths and migrate to capital town of Leh in search of greener pastures and a better life. Migration meant alienation of the area and that is proving strategically suicidal because of non existence of civilian population in the region implied free for the Chinese troops to make forays into our areas of LoAC at their free will.
The announcement of financial package for the border area is meant to reverse the trend of these Champas who are selling their livestock and settling down in Leh or around the town after abandoning their traditional vocations and places. Many of them got displaced after Chinese occupied their traditional high altitude pastures as these grazing grounds are strategically important for survival of their livestock particularly during winter months.
The frequent reports of incursions by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have raised many questions on India’s response towards China. The last year’s face off between the two countries in Chumur and Demchog sectors and Prime Minister, Narinder Modi’s, assurance to develop a more robust national security policy has highlighted the long standing demand of local residents to find a lasting solutions to these problems.
“To avoid confrontation, India has been tackling these repeated incursions with lot of patience. This has emboldened Chinese to make frequent forays into our pastures in other places along the border”, says Stanzin, a local resident.
“We have revenue records to prove our claim but they (Chinese troops) would not relent and treat these documents as a piece of trash”, he added.
Trig Heights, Chagang, Kolog Molog, Jiwan Nallah, Demchog, Chumur, Kuyul, Chushul, Dumysele, Phobrang, Man Merak, Raki Nallah (near Burtse in Daulat Beig Oldi) and places like Finger III and IV on the northern bank of Pongong Tso (Lake) were faced with frequent incursions for past several years.
Surprisingly, the Chinese are quick in taking over land in these areas. What is alarming is that in post 1962 period, large stretches of pasture land have been lost to China. For instance, Champas in Rupshu were using the Dumtsele pasture land and is lost to Chinese now. Similarly in 1965 Chinese troops took over the control of Tsaga and Kuyul as these areas were earlier on the Indian side. Again, parts of Kakjung were lost in 1986. Kigo Naro, now occupied by Chinese was once known as last post of the Indian border.
The ground situation suggested that many important areas have been occupied by the Chinese including Dogbuk, Bandabasti, Chapji (in Chumur), Hana Post and Singong Nallah, Tara Pora, Zara La (known as India Gate) and Melong Nallah.
Most of these areas were winter reserve pastures for the live stock of Ladakhi nomads, who are constrained to use a much smaller area. Sirijap post near Pongong Tso, Serja to finger IV has been taken away by PLA including three points in Finger IV area. It remains difficult precisely state areas that have been annexed as a lot of information on border issues are kept out of public domain and the LoAC changes over days, weeks and months through regular encroachments by the Chinese.
The Chinese continue to nibble into Indian territories along the LoAC at several places. Local accounts suggest that Chinese follow a specific pattern to encroach on Indian land. Eyewitness state that no intrusion is initiated by the Chinese army. Instead, they encourage their nomads to make forays into vacant grazing lands on the Indian side. Unnoticed if they go for some time from the eyes of Indian border guards, these nomads set up tents and when they meet no opposition, eventually construct concrete structures and bunkers. If there are any protests from Indian side, they argue and assert that they were settled in their own area.
At the same time, the Chinese threaten Ladakhi nomads (Champas), uprooting their tents, demolishing any structures they may have built and chasing them away from their traditional pasture lands. Locals complain that high-handedness of PLA soldiers is compounded by the insensitivity of Indian army. They rue that instead of listening to their repeated appeals against the PLA’s actions, the Indian army forbids them from entering their own pasturelands near the border.
“On our eastern side, China has forcibly occupied a large stretch of our land from Demchog to Pongong Tso. Both countries hold different perceptions of LoAC and both sides had agreed to maintain a status quo but Chinese have been observing the same more in breach now for past couple of years”, said a senior revenue official, requesting not to be named. He said shepherds from across the border enter into our pasture lands with their herds. They are followed by Chinese troops who set up their tents there and in the process we have been continuously losing our grazing grounds to them.
The federal Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar, told Lok Sabha (lower house of the Indian parliament), during ongoing budget session in a written reply to a question, that transgressions along the LoAC between India and China do occur but no incursion into country’s (Indian) territory has taken place.
“There is no commonly delineated border between India and China, there are areas along the LoAC where two sides have different perception about it. Both sides undertake the patrolling up to their respective perceptions of the border. Such transgressions have also occurred in the general area of Chumur in Ladakh sector”, he explained.
The ambiguity about the LoAC offers reasons for such incursions.
India's acquiescence emboldens China - Scoop News Jammu Kashmir
Changthang- (Ladakh)-A special development package of 6.5 billion (650 crore) rupees announced recently by Government of India (GoI) to improve the living conditions of the people settled in and around Changthang area close to the border with China is purely a humanitarian action as nothing had been done for these gullible residents over the years.
Apart from strategic importance of forward eastern border region of Leh district, successive governments in the state never paid any attention towards the welfare of Champas, nomadic people mostly poor shepherds, spread across a large swaths of high altitude mountainous land in over 20 villages who will be entitled to a monthly honorarium between seven and ten thousand rupees as part of the special development package.
Across the Line of Actual Control (LoAC) China has brought road connection to the villages on its side besides other facilities while this side is bereft of any development. The continuous neglect over a period has compelled the residents to leave their homes and hearths and migrate to capital town of Leh in search of greener pastures and a better life. Migration meant alienation of the area and that is proving strategically suicidal because of non existence of civilian population in the region implied free for the Chinese troops to make forays into our areas of LoAC at their free will.
The announcement of financial package for the border area is meant to reverse the trend of these Champas who are selling their livestock and settling down in Leh or around the town after abandoning their traditional vocations and places. Many of them got displaced after Chinese occupied their traditional high altitude pastures as these grazing grounds are strategically important for survival of their livestock particularly during winter months.
The frequent reports of incursions by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have raised many questions on India’s response towards China. The last year’s face off between the two countries in Chumur and Demchog sectors and Prime Minister, Narinder Modi’s, assurance to develop a more robust national security policy has highlighted the long standing demand of local residents to find a lasting solutions to these problems.
“To avoid confrontation, India has been tackling these repeated incursions with lot of patience. This has emboldened Chinese to make frequent forays into our pastures in other places along the border”, says Stanzin, a local resident.
“We have revenue records to prove our claim but they (Chinese troops) would not relent and treat these documents as a piece of trash”, he added.
Trig Heights, Chagang, Kolog Molog, Jiwan Nallah, Demchog, Chumur, Kuyul, Chushul, Dumysele, Phobrang, Man Merak, Raki Nallah (near Burtse in Daulat Beig Oldi) and places like Finger III and IV on the northern bank of Pongong Tso (Lake) were faced with frequent incursions for past several years.
Surprisingly, the Chinese are quick in taking over land in these areas. What is alarming is that in post 1962 period, large stretches of pasture land have been lost to China. For instance, Champas in Rupshu were using the Dumtsele pasture land and is lost to Chinese now. Similarly in 1965 Chinese troops took over the control of Tsaga and Kuyul as these areas were earlier on the Indian side. Again, parts of Kakjung were lost in 1986. Kigo Naro, now occupied by Chinese was once known as last post of the Indian border.
The ground situation suggested that many important areas have been occupied by the Chinese including Dogbuk, Bandabasti, Chapji (in Chumur), Hana Post and Singong Nallah, Tara Pora, Zara La (known as India Gate) and Melong Nallah.
Most of these areas were winter reserve pastures for the live stock of Ladakhi nomads, who are constrained to use a much smaller area. Sirijap post near Pongong Tso, Serja to finger IV has been taken away by PLA including three points in Finger IV area. It remains difficult precisely state areas that have been annexed as a lot of information on border issues are kept out of public domain and the LoAC changes over days, weeks and months through regular encroachments by the Chinese.
The Chinese continue to nibble into Indian territories along the LoAC at several places. Local accounts suggest that Chinese follow a specific pattern to encroach on Indian land. Eyewitness state that no intrusion is initiated by the Chinese army. Instead, they encourage their nomads to make forays into vacant grazing lands on the Indian side. Unnoticed if they go for some time from the eyes of Indian border guards, these nomads set up tents and when they meet no opposition, eventually construct concrete structures and bunkers. If there are any protests from Indian side, they argue and assert that they were settled in their own area.
At the same time, the Chinese threaten Ladakhi nomads (Champas), uprooting their tents, demolishing any structures they may have built and chasing them away from their traditional pasture lands. Locals complain that high-handedness of PLA soldiers is compounded by the insensitivity of Indian army. They rue that instead of listening to their repeated appeals against the PLA’s actions, the Indian army forbids them from entering their own pasturelands near the border.
“On our eastern side, China has forcibly occupied a large stretch of our land from Demchog to Pongong Tso. Both countries hold different perceptions of LoAC and both sides had agreed to maintain a status quo but Chinese have been observing the same more in breach now for past couple of years”, said a senior revenue official, requesting not to be named. He said shepherds from across the border enter into our pasture lands with their herds. They are followed by Chinese troops who set up their tents there and in the process we have been continuously losing our grazing grounds to them.
The federal Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar, told Lok Sabha (lower house of the Indian parliament), during ongoing budget session in a written reply to a question, that transgressions along the LoAC between India and China do occur but no incursion into country’s (Indian) territory has taken place.
“There is no commonly delineated border between India and China, there are areas along the LoAC where two sides have different perception about it. Both sides undertake the patrolling up to their respective perceptions of the border. Such transgressions have also occurred in the general area of Chumur in Ladakh sector”, he explained.
The ambiguity about the LoAC offers reasons for such incursions.
India's acquiescence emboldens China - Scoop News Jammu Kashmir
