Indian Army officials pay tribute to Special Frontier Force soldier Nyima Tenzin during a wreath-laying ceremony in Devachan, Leh, on 7 September 2020. PTI
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LEH, India, 7 September 2020
In a huge gesture towards Tibet, people of Leh came together and paid tribute to a Tibetan jawan who died recently along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Special Frontier Force (SFF) company leader Nyima Tenzin lost his life on 31 August when he stepped on a landmine laid in 1962 in Gurung Hill in Chushul.
Hours after the Indian Army issued the press statement about his death, the Tibetan community in Ladakh came together to pay tribute to the soldier of the ‘7 Vikas’ battalion. Tenzin’s body was driven to his house in the Sonamling Tibetan Refugee settlement in Leh, Ladakh, escorted by an SFF truck.
BJP leader Ram Madhav also paid tribute to the late soldier. “Attended the funeral of SFF Coy Ldr Nyima Tenzin, a Tibetan who laid down his life protecting our borders in Ladakh, and laid a wreath as a tribute,” Madhav tweeted.
The tragic demise of the Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) points at the fact that India has deployed its secret Tibetan paramilitary force along the LAC with China, for the first time in recent years.
Reportedly, the deployment of SFF troopers in Ladakh began after Chinese incursions in May this year. The Army pulled out the special forces units to hack trails and set up posts along hilltops and ridgelines to observe positions of the Chinese military.
Earlier on 2 September, when asked about the SFF, Chinese ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson Hua Chunying said, “China’s position is very clear. We oppose any country, and of course, that includes India, which provides any facilitation or venue to forces advocating Tibetan independence.”
What is Special Frontier Force?
The SFF is an enigmatic paramilitary unit manned by ethnic Tibetans and has Vikas battalions number from one to seven. It operated under a covert organisation called the Directorate General of Security (DGS).
Both the DGS and SFF were set up in 1962 in the closing stages of the border war with China to fight a guerrilla war inside the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
The special force comes under the direct administrative control of the cabinet secretariat and the PMO, and fights alongside the Indian Army in the toughest terrains.
The SFF draws its volunteer recruits from a 150,000-strong ethnic Tibetan diaspora, settled mostly in India. Officered by the Indian Army, it has six battalions with nearly 5,000 troopers. Curiously, accounts of its creation are anecdotal as no official records have been published.
If reports are to be believed, then the special force has played a key role in stopping Pakistani forces at Chittagong during the Bangladesh war of 1971, Operation Bluestar in 1984, in securing the Siachen glacier in 1984 and the Kargil war against Pakistan in 1999.
This SFF (Special Frontal Force), manned by ethnic Tibetans originated through East Pakistan, at a time when India’s hands were bound by the Panchsheel Treaty with China in the ’50s and early ’60s.
It is paradoxical that this Special Frontal force that originated in East Pakistan — had become instrumental in India’s victories against Pakistan –at Chittagong, Operation Blue Star and the Kargil war. I salute the BRAVE HEARTS.
The SFF is the shining sword of the Tibetan freedom Movement. It originated with the Tibetan people’s resistance to communist China’s brazen occupation of Tibet. The resistance fighters put up a gallant fight against the invaders but in the end the sheer number of communist forces and the lack of modern weapons was responsible for them to retreat into exile.
We have to remember that the Tibetan Government of the day always turned a cold shoulder whether it be inside Tibet or now in exile. It’s baffling that instead of embracing the services of our youth and their courage, the exile-Govt even today keeps it at arms length.
Now that the rule of Dalai Lamas has ended what’s wrong to show more interest for our military force and encourage young people to join and make the SFF a formidable force. They have proved beyond a shadow doubt that given the opportunity, they will bring glory to Tibet and India.
The action of the SFF in Pangong Tso recently has brought more good will from the Indian public than a million “Thank you India” ceremonies. India needs the SFF to fight in high altitude where normal Indians born in plains find it hard. We also need India to support us in our struggle to end the oppression in our country. So, there is mutual congruence that ties India and Tibet together in each other’s need.
We have to piggy back a great power to fulfil our cherished goal and that power is inevitably India who has the greatest stake in their national security and geopolitical interest to re-instate the historical buffer that was Tibet. Besides, we should not put all our eggs in one basket and instead look afar and prepare the ground for contingency plans for the future. After all we are never going to give up our country to foreign domination forever.