China May Activate Uttarakhand LAC Sector for Tension: Author
Lt KJ Singh with Army Chief General Upendra Dwiwedi Image credit Lt Gen (R) KJ Singh
China Shows Pattern of Picking New Border Conflicts: Lt Gen (R) KJ Singh
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, December 22: Amid ongoing de-escalation in the Eastern Ladakh, former head of the Sikkim Corps warned that China may target the Uttarakhand sector alongside the line of actual control (LAC) for the next episode of border tension. India and China held the 23rd round of the Special Representative (SR) level talks in Beijing this week amid the ongoing efforts to diffuse border tension.
“I tend to believe that China is not going to settle it quickly. It will keep us waiting. Also, India cannot sit back. They may open a new front in the central sector,” said Lt Gen K J Singh (Retd) during a conversation with The Raisina Hills with senior journalist Sujan Dutta.
The undefined border with China is split in three sectors – Eastern, Central, and Western. In a span of three years, China created two border tension zones – Doklam (2017) and Eastern Ladakh (2020).
“Exactly, Uttarakhand, yes… Chinese cannot be trusted …you have to verify before you even start thinking of trusting them,” added Singh to Dutta asking if Uttarakhand sector could be the next target.
China in 1954 had made an incursion in the Barahoti sector alongside the LAC with Uttarakhand. Defence experts in their commentaries note the Chinese interests in the Barahoti sector. China stakes claim on the Barahoti sector.
The military veteran cited instances when China picked up new areas for border tension during the conversation. “There is a place in Sikkim called as Naku La…Now, when I was Corps commander, I was told ‘there is no threat here. Nothing happens here’,” added Singh while recalling his tenure at the helm of the Sikkim Corps.
Singh said that as a core commander he started “the practice of keeping our infantry company and one year after I left, I was told Chinese activated Naku La”. “So, Chinese can activate any place,” added Singh.
The military veteran also recalled the Chinese “activating Smugglers’ Gap, Black Rock and Naqu pass” while he helmed the Sikkim Corps. Naqu pass is in glaciated Muguthang valley.
“When I was the Western army commander, I was looking after the Rampur sector in Himachal Pradesh. So, everybody used to tell me it’s a holiday sector. It was called sugar sector,” added the military veteran. The sugar sector is the border areas straddling between Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh with China.
Singh stated that India beefed up military strength in the sugar sector to meet any challenge from China. “Our decision makers were responsive and good. We made it 36 brigade, then we made it 136 independent infantry brigade. That time, it used to have just two battalions. Today, it has got four battalions. That time it was one light regiment while now it has got a medium regiment and light regiment,” added Singh.
“I used to keep telling my people that please do not trust the Chinese,” added Singh, while stressing that India must guard against the next target of border tension in the light of several precedents in the recent years.
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