STAYING ON TOP

India seizes control of unoccupied strategic heights in Ladakh to enhance its bargaining power and to force China back to talks

- PRADIP R. SAGAR

ON AUGUST 29, when Indian troops thwarted an aggressive move by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on the southern bank of Pangong Tso, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying used a Chinese proverb to explain what happened. “A guilty man protesting conspicuously his innocence,” she said. Hua’s attempt to put the blame on India betrayed Beijing’s nervousness about India’s latest ‘offensive’ along the Line of Actual Control, the disputed Sino-Indian border.

China once again tried to paint India as the aggressor a few days later. On September 7, shots were fired on the LAC for the first time since 1975 and China blamed India for attacking its guards patrolling the Mukhpari area in Ladakh’s Chushul sub sector. India denied the charge and said it was the PLA which fired in the air to intimidate Indian soldiers.

The PLA appears to be in a state of consternation, especially after Indian troops managed to occupy a few critical heights in the Chushul sub sector, giving them the capability to engage the enemy’s artillery guns, anti-tank guided missiles, rockets and other weapon systems. Indian units, reinforced by a regiment of T-90 battle tanks, have been deployed in strength in the region, from where they can defend the vulnerable Spanggur pass.