Five years on, Galwan lessons India must heed

No one knew about the Galwan Valley in the Eastern Ladakh region of India until the fateful days of June 15-16, 2020.

- Shashi Shekhar

Something happened on the intervening night that impacted Sino-Indian relations in a big way and forced us to revisit our doctrines on strategic preparedness and border security.

On the fifth anniversary of the Galwan clashes, it's necessary to remember the bloody skirmish that left our borders bleeding. Since 2013, a pattern of border tensions flaring up regularly between China and India has become obvious.

In 2017, Chinese soldiers entered disputed areas. India showed alacrity in countering the incursions. Both parties held many rounds of discussions to defuse the tension and agreed to maintain the earlier status quo. Both countries withdrew their soldiers to the positions they held before the incursion.

Meanwhile, China had constructed an observation post in Galwan Valley. Despite Indian soldiers repeatedly protesting and asking the Chinese to vacate the makeshift observation post, the latter refused to oblige within the stipulated time.

When, under the command of Colonel Santosh Babu, close to a hundred Indian soldiers went to remove the encroachment, a large contingent of Chinese soldiers attacked them. According to the treaties signed in 1996 and 2005, both armies don't use lethal weapons in case of a clash. So, what unfolded was shameful and instructive. Those aggressors had long sticks covered with barbed wire, steel rods, and other such weapons that were enough to kill anyone. Outmanoeuvred and outnumbered, our soldiers fought bravely, but they hadn't arrived at the location with the intent to fight. The unfortunate result was that 20 soldiers, along with Colonel Santosh Babu, laid down their lives in close-quarter hand-to-hand combat.