Article No. 2 HIMALAYAS OR 1959 CLAIM LINE?

Missing woods for trees. Media is full of topographical details about ‘CLAIM LINE-1959’. The same articles are copy pasted and passed as ‘knowledge’ each time of clash. Did we miss something?

Yes we did, we missed woods for trees for SIXTY YEARS. Even today we are missing them.

The lack of strategic application of mind in 50’s and continued each decade thereafter has completely blinded us. We as a nation are obsessed with military experts who use their ground knowledge in a very small sector and thereafter repeat the same things in different forms. This shortsightedness of people as senior as retired Army Commanders displays self-obsession and sticking to same points repeatedly up to a point where no one pays attention to the contents, since everything is already known.

Whether it is DBO, Depsang Plains, Pangong Tso, Doklam, Sikkim or Arunachal, not even once has the complete topography been analyzed to arrive at strategy most suited to India. These experts, therefore, cannot contribute anything substantial. They missed the first and the most important aspect of India-China geography. The Himalayas. Instead we are fighting for a finger here, a plain there, a line here and a line there. There is no material in public domain of pre-1962 vintage which comprehensively covers the complete details in each sector and uses Himalayas as the main feature around which the military doctrine should have come up. This doctrine in turn would have created a blueprint for infrastructure development to support the plan.

The obsession with 1959, the ‘fear’ of discussing this claim line needs to be overcome to understand the strategic needs of our nation. Mr. Nehru was so much against the 1959 claim line maps of China that with zero understanding of terrain, he rejected it. The 1962 war saw Indian Army withdrawing 100 kms from their positions while China just came up to the claim line leaving massive unoccupied territory on our side of claim line. No military leader ever advised the Prime Minister on the relevance of the claim line wrt. the military. The obsession with ‘not’ accepting the 1959 claim line was thus born.

The obsession continues till date. The current government is no different. The shortsightedness continues. It is what ‘my’ government did vs what ‘your party did’. Whether it is DBO, Doklam, Sumdorong Cho or Pangang Tso, China opens up such sectors of which we have absolutely no clue. Today, entire world knows where Galwan is, before last Jun 2020, I can assure you, to the Northern Army Commander it was not even worth putting a name and paper flag on the operational maps of the Northern Command. While we were handling it, a village came up on the tri junction of India-Nepal-China, Nepal changed its maps, claimed India was occupying its land etc.

‘We deployed four divisions so rapidly that China blinked’ sells the current government. ‘It’s our four vs their four’ goes next. Nine rounds of military talks for disengagement, diplomatic parleys and control of domestic media- is this story not stale? Hasn’t this been happening for last seven decades?

India has never debated either Himalayas or the 1959 claim line. Even we don’t know what we want. China has a reference line to fall back upon which it declared and published in 1959 and formally offered to the Indian Prime Minister. Today, sixty years later China is much better placed to call aggression, intrusion, capture land and blame India. It has a reference line to use. 1959 claim line. What about India? We have nothing since we hid everything from citizens to ‘win’ the next election. Tarnish previous incumbents, dig out dirt, use Nehru to score political goals and more. The Military Generals are an apology.

Where do we stand internationally? We are seen as a nation that does not want settlement by claiming its bilateral. We still go to Moscow to sign secret agreements for ‘Disengagement-2021’, We are seen as aggressors since China uses 1959 claim line. We conveniently use the claim line in some sectors while throw it in trash bin in other sectors. We are seen at fault.

Our veteran community passes of terrain evaluation as intellectual contribution. We require strategic contribution. Retired Army Commanders speak of ‘tactics’ whereas their focus should be on ‘strategy’. Retired Generals publicly make statements that we have transgressed hundreds of times. How exactly is this helping us?

All of above are ‘trees’. We missed the woods. Why is all of this happening and we are in a perpetual state of reacting? We took trees for SIXTY YEARS. Even today we are missing them.

While India looks at ‘fingers’, ‘gaps’, ‘tops’, ‘plains’ and ‘ridged’, China looks at Himalayas. To China from Shaksgam Valley to Kibuthu in Arunachal is INDIA. It thinks, plans and executes ‘centrally’. It thinks Himalayas. Have we ever thought on those lines? After all what is there to ‘think’ and ‘analyze’? Ask a retired General and he will look out of window. Himalayas hold answer to permanent settlement to the India-China border issue. Have we ever taken Himalayas as strength?

My next editorial will cover Himalayas. We need to have a complete change in our thinking else we will continue buying 20 dead bodies for one Maha Vir Chakra. THIS MUST STOP.

Col Sanjay Pande

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