An Indian fighter plane flies over a mountain range in Leh, in the Ladakh region, on 9 September 2020. Reuters/Stringer
By Devjyot Ghoshal | Reuters
NEW DELHI, India, 9 September 2020
Indian and Chinese troops were facing off on Wednesday, barely a few hundred meters apart, in a remote Himalayan region where shots were fired for the first time in decades, Indian officials said.
The nuclear-armed neighbors have accused each other of firing in the air during a fresh flare-up in the Ladakh region on Monday, violating long-standing protocols to avoid using firearms along their undemarcated borders.
“The situation is tense,” an official in New Delhi said, adding that Indian and Chinese troops were squaring off in close proximity in at least four locations south of the Pangong Tso lake that both lay claim to.
“Both are on their own sides of the LAC,” the official said, referring to the Line of Actual Control, the de facto border.
At a forward position near the Rezang La mountain pass, Indian and Chinese troops were only around 200 meters apart, another official in New Delhi said. Both officials declined to be named.
On Monday, the Indian military said Chinese troops fired in the air after attempting to close in on a forward Indian position. But the China military said it was Indian troops who fired the shots, threatening Chinese border guards during a patrol.
In photographs provided by sources in New Delhi from an area south of Pangong Tso taken on Monday, around two dozen Chinese troops with assault rifles hanging off their backs can be seen holding long poles with a curved blade. Reuters could not independently verify the photographs.
A 70-km long patch of desolate snow desert south of Pangong Tso has emerged as the latest flash-point between the Asian giants, with some 3,000 Indian troops strung along strategic ridges and hilltops, the first Indian official said.
The confrontation erupted after New Delhi mobilized soldiers late last month to occupy key heights to deter Chinese troops, whose movements suggested they aimed to occupy a hilltop that falls within territory that India considers its own, according to Indian officials.
There are news Chinese might also use Tibetan army. I hope Tibetans in Chinese army and Indian army don’t kill each other but target only the Indians and the Chinese. When two Tibetans see each other, they will recognise mutually.
In all probability the Chinese are posturing but it also could be that they are preparing for confrontation. The PLA has organised their first parachute training in Tibet and Chinese bomber are reported to be flying near the Indo-Tibet border.
Analysts are predicting both India and China cannot back down from their present positions. So, just as the Indian troops are ready for any eventuality, the Chinese have amassed themselves and are training and acclimatising in the high altitude.
The Chinese may well be prepared for a war with India hoping that it can win. This is the time India must teach a lesson to evil communist China. India is believed to have air superiority over China and this is going to be the key to India’s success.
In all probability the feared SFF veterans will be in the forefront of India’s military campaign this time around. The forefathers of the SFF veterans have joined the force with the hope and dream of fighting the PLA one day. Now, that dream is coming to fruition. All ex-SFF soldiers should join to fulfil their cherished dream of fighting the evil Chinese PLA who are only good at killing women and children.
Time has come to assist and pay our gratitude to our Indian hosts and also take revenge on the PLA for committing the most heinous atrocities in occupied Tibet for the last 60 years. Every young men who are trained soldiers should consider joining in India’s fight against the most grotesque and evil regime.
The PLA kids are cowards and they come out only in big numbers like pack dogs. They spend most of their time in indoctrination and have no proper training. The PLA kids are not there to fight but to service the older PLA men in their ranks who have voracious sexual appetite. They are girlie-men!