Joint drill for LAC peace

Ajay Banerjee

Despite military readiness, the armies of India and China have taken a tentative step to maintain peace along the disputed Line of Actual Control (LAC) – the defacto border. New Delhi has now proposed to expand the scope of joint-military exercise, which was first conducted in February 2016.

The two armies had taken an unprecedented step by conducting their first-ever joint exercise along the LAC. China had hosted the daylong exercise at its Moldo Garrison facing the Spanggur Gap (Chusul) in eastern Ladakh. Named the “Sino-India Cooperation 2016’’, it involved 30 troops from each side and was based on a situation of national disaster occurring along the LAC and subsequent coordination of rescue mission by joint teams of both the countries.

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This time, India is slated to be the host. India has proposed a wider scope for the exercise at one of its military stations in eastern Ladakh. Since the altitude in the area is in excess of 14,000 feet, the exercise can at best be conducted till October before temperatures plunge to minus 10° or 20°C.

Brigadier RS Raman, who headed the brigade which took part in the February exercise, says “some working relationship was established at the exercise and we have proposed another one, this time on our side”. So far, the Brigade commanders of either side and their teams have been meeting each other only on five-six annual ceremonial occasions or to lodge complaints of transgressions by either side.

A hotline exists between commanders of either side at the designated border personnel meeting (BPM) point at Spanggur gap to call up each other and seek clarifications and lodge complaints of patrolling in disputed areas. Some 100 such meetings are conducted each year. The perception of the LAC varies and troops of either side routinely patrol in the disputed areas.

Also, this year, the two countries have opened a new BPM point east of Daulat Baig Oldie on the disputed Depsang plains in sub-sector north (SSN) of eastern Ladakh. It is one of the areas where disputes on the location of the LAC abound.

Already India and China conduct a larger exercise the ‘Hand-in-Hand series’ with some 150-odd troops on either side. The two countries share a 3,488-km defacto border that is divided into three sectors—western sector (between Ladakh and Aksai Chin plateau); central sector (between Uttarakhand and Tibet) and the eastern sector (covering Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh).

The exercise along the LAC was conducted following a May 2015 decision announced in a joint statement at Beijing after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The two leaders had committed to enhance border defence cooperation and tasked the militaries on either side to meet each other often. The joint statement had talked about exchanges between the neighbouring military commands on either side and expansion of exchanges between the border commanders.

“Peace and tranquillity on the India-China border was recognised as an important guarantor for the development and continued growth of bilateral relations,” the statement had said.

(To be concluded)