Stand to: A Principled Command

China’s aggression is born of insecurities about India’s foreign policy and its stand on issues of mutual interest. India must make no compromise in reverting to status quo positions at LAC.

- LT GEN SUBRATA SAHA (RETD)

THROUGH the past few weeks, India’s border with China, or the Line of Actual Control (LAC), has become a theatre of ‘actual’ excitement. It must be clarified at the outset that ‘LAC’ is a misnomer, because the line is neither delineated, nor demarcated, and therefore, it is more a line of perception. Over the years, the situation has been managed through a series of agreements, and confidence-building measures. The recent series of incidents are, however, calling to question the sustainability of these arrangements.

First, let us briefly recount what has happened. India and China have been locked in approximately a month-long military ‘face-off’ at multiple places in Eastern Ladakh, spread across the Galwan Valley and the Pangong Tso lake. Around the same time, there was a faceoff at Naku La in Sikkim.

‘Galwan’ gets its name from Ghulam Rasool Galwan from Ladakh, who had travelled to this area in 1899. Pangong (meaning ‘long, narrow, enchanted’) Tso (lake) is at an altitude of approximately 4,350 metres above sea level. It is 134 km long and extends from India to the Tibetan Autonomous Region. Approximately 60 per cent of the length of the lake lies within the Tibetan Autonomous Region.