China deploying troops on Pangong Tso, adds muscle to air power along LAC in Ladakh
After their unsuccessful bids to breach the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the last few days, China has started deploying more troops on the Pangong Tso (lake) indicating it is not ready for immediate disengagement.
The Chinese have also added muscle to their air power by deploying more than 150 aircraft and helicopters on their side of the LAC in Ladakh. Not willing to take any chances, the IAF has also deployed its front line fighter jets, including the SU-30, MIG-29, and Jaguars at forward bases all along the 4,000 km long LAC stretching from Ladakh in the west to Arunachal Pradesh in the east.
This ramping up of troops by China comes days after India, in a defensive move on August 29-30, occupied heights in the north bank of the lake near “Finger 4”. This was a befitting reply to China, which dominates the area between Finger 4 and 8. The Indian Army also thwarted bid by the Chinese to gain a foothold on the south bank of the lake.
The deployment of additional troops by the Chinese in the north bank of the Pangong Tso has increased tension and may also cast a shadow on the meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow on Thursday.
The luncheon meeting will take place on the sidelines of the conclave of foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
Elaborating upon the latest developments, sources said India will retaliate if the Chinese try to breach the Indian positions. In a swift proactive move, the Indian forces on August 29-30 night occupied the hilltops higher than the “Finger 4” area on the Indian side of the LAC.
Sources said India will not tolerate any transgression and, if the Chinese cross the “red line, retaliation will be swift. Defining the “red lines,” sources said barbed wires are now erected around all the Indian positions and, if the Chinese try to breach it, the local Army commander are free to take suitable action, they said. The Indian troops may also open fire if the Chinese try to come close to the Indian positions.
These rules of engagement to fire were implemented in the wake of the June 15 incident when 20 Indian personnel, including the commanding officer were beaten and stabbed to death in a bloody brawl with the Chinese troops in the Galwan valley. Earlier, in a pact in the 1990s, the two sides decided not use firearms and conduct blasts for training and infrastructure developments with 2 kms of the LAC. Mandarin-speaking Indian soldiers are now part of frontline troops on the LAC. In the past few days they have repeatedly warned the Chinese soldiers on the loudhailer, they said.
As regards present troops strength, more than 5,000 to 7,000 Chinese troops are now present in the Eastern Ladakh region and more than 50,000 all over the 1,600 km long LAC in the entire region of Ladakh.
India has matched the force levels evenly in the entire region in terms of personnel and weaponry, they said.
China intruded into the north bank of the Pangong Tso in the first week of May and obstructed an Indian Army patrol. This led to fisticuffs between the soldiers of the two sides leaving several of them injured. A stand-off is on since then with the Chinese refusing to withdraw its troops from the area between ‘Finger 4’ and ‘Finger 8.’ These two ‘fingers’ or mountain spurs are five to six km apart and the presence of the Chinese there poses a grave threat to Indian security interests, they said. China has also erected more tents and constructed makeshift bunkers for the troops thereby indicating that it will be a long haul to restore normalcy.
Asserting that the Indian forces are now nowhere “under-prepared” to deal with the Chinese military build-up, they, however, did not rule out some action by the Chinese in the coming days to regain lost ground. Officials also said the recent moves by the Chinese in north and south of the lake are not carried by some “local exuberant commanders. In fact, their action is being controlled by their top commanders.”