Monthly Archives: August 2018

External affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said both sides continue to be in touch through diplomatic and military channels to work for an “early resolution” of the border standoff with the guidance from the top leadership of India and China.

Countries are relying on internal strength, engagement with Beijing and external balancing. Prioritise wisely

India remains volatile despite the ‘improved’ India-China bilateral, owing to the ‘convergence’ of cash, commerce and communication. Underneath grows the simmering border, a sample of which we see today in Ladakh, the border where India, Xizang (Tibet) and Xinjiang meet.

Abhijit Bhattacharyya

Commentator and Author

A porous border and recurring foreign invasions have always haunted every ruling class of Indian history, barring rare exceptions like that of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1799-1839) during whose life and times, neither the British dared cross the Sutlej from the south, nor Ahmad Shah Abdali’s descendants or the disparate Afghan sirdars tried to go after the capital of the Lion of Lahore and beyond to Ladakh.

Thus, from Alexander in 326 BC to the Chinese Communist Party in 2020 AD, the Indian territory — like Aksai Chin axis of Ladakh— continues to be a foreigner’s target. Let’s, therefore, accept our perennial failure to protect ourselves and try resolve the present Chinese incursion with resolute focus, at a time of health and economic issues confronting the world and India.

It all started in October 1947 in Kashmir. It’s been a recurring trend ever since. Sixty years ago, when the Lutyens’landscape, unlike today, was the relaxed capital of Nehru’s India who had his own unchallenged, inimitable style and indelible stamp on the domestic and diplomatic arenas. The Indian PM’s imprint was in the world arena. The Army and the remnant of British-recruited administrators too felt his magic wand. Nehru ‘couldn’t go wrong’ was the inference, if not the perception.

But, this was too good to last as an unexpected, military disaster caused by Mao-led Chinese invasion of October-November 1962 led to an irreversible fall for the political patriarch, permanently shattering India’s hallucination of the Himalayas. The high northern borders of India-Tibet, overshadowed by the remote Communist Party of China from Beijing, were not the same again.

It’s still not the same again, because the Himalayas are now causing more harm than creating harmony. The hills keep India on the tenterhooks — simmering, boiling, heating — an unpredictable frontier, as the border remains unresolved, and there simply isn’t anything to show that it will ever change any time soon. Today’s India-China border is a General’s nightmare, constituting the reality of Napoleon and Hitler’s war on two fronts. But, it’s also the CPC’s delight, being insoluble, irresolvable, irreversible. It’s an issue — ‘divergence’ extraordinary — which can always be a readymade ‘cause of action’, especially for the Beijing CPC.

In a way, China destroyed in the 1960s, the Indian PM and political stability. Today, China threatens the present dispensation, too, as India has never been the same again. It remains volatile upfront despite the so-called ‘improved’ India-China bilateral, owing to the ‘convergence’ of cash, commerce, communication. Underneath goes and grows the simmering, burning, boiling border, a sample we all are seeing today in Ladakh, the border where India, Xizang (Tibet) and Xinjiang meet and overlap.

It’s the legacy of imperialism, says the Beijing CPC. That’s it. No resolve to settle. Instead, the futile meetings and statements, for public consumption. Underneath, it’s shifting stands, changing dates and fabricated maps, contradictory and confusing communication. An exasperated PM Nehru asked: “How far back are we to go,” for border demarcation? No answer. Instead, a volley of vituperative semantics by the Communist state-controlled print media: “Nehru is the running dog of US imperialism.”

Below the changing posture stood the then as now, stand. “China won’t give up an inch of territory,” thundered the state-controlled print media on June 6, the day a senior three-star Indian and a junior two-star China’s General met, trying to make sense, through dialogue. “Restore April 2020 status along the LAC,” said India, publicly conceding that the border status quo had been violated by a unilateral aggression of the CPC Army. India’s border, even if perceived, has shrunk as China expands with its muscles flexed.

This, despite an avowed understanding and summits between the Indian and Chinese leaders, wherein both claimed that ‘difference’ shouldn’t turn into ‘dispute’, lest China loses its humongous one-way annual cash profit of more than $50 billion bilateral trade.

Surprisingly, a chunk of the Indian traders is ignorant of the loss to the exchequer and the resultant damage being inflicted to industry owing to factory closure and unemployment multiplication. The lure for profit through cheap import and healthy domestic sale through hiked prices is irresistible. Hence, the desperation of the hinterland actors — who have never seen the border — to avoid business loss, even if there’s border loss. This is an irony.

Thus, whereas the Chinese read the Indian psyche well, it isn’t vice versa. China shares a border with 14 countries, India with seven. Strangely, China has major border disputes only in the Himalayas — with India, Nepal, Bhutan — and minor issues with North Korea (Paektu and Jiandao) and Russia. India, on the other hand, has issues with Pakistan and China, and now suddenly with Nepal, notwithstanding that Delhi-Kathmandu is an open border and that more than one crore Nepalis are in India.

Coming back to Ladakh, where does one go now? Is resolution possible? Not in long but short term. Because, the Chinese view reigns supreme. Territory is non-negotiable with Delhi’s democracy. Why give up when ‘we hold the upper hand, through commerce, trade, industry and banking?’ Just look at India’s history of border management. Indians need to recall causes leading to the US-China trade-technology dispute. China doesn’t believe in mutually accepted law. US discovered it rather late.

Recall the 1914 Simla Convention wherein the British, Chinese and the Tibetans signed the McMahon Line. China signed and then repudiated. Thus, the future does look difficult because to the Chinese, frontiers constitute political-cum-ideological, rather than legitimate matter. Frontier is a horizon of influence and cannot be legally stable and permanent. Not with India in the Himalayas, at least!

New Delhi, June 11

Almost eight months after theft on board the indigenous aircraft carrier in Kerala’s Cochin Shipyard, where INS Vikrant, is under construction, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested two suspects from Bihar and Rajasthan.

An NIA spokesperson said the agency arrested Sumit Kumar Singh (23), a resident of Bihar’s Munger district, and Daya Ram (22), a resident of Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh, from their houses.

The two were allegedly involved in the theft of computer hardware components from the under-construction Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) at the Cochin Shipyard Ltd. The theft on board the vessel was reported in September last year.

According to NIA officials, four computers were dismantled and hard disks, RAMs and processors were stolen from the IAC in September last year.

The stolen items included five micro-processors, 10 RAMs, five Solid State Drives (SSDs) from the Multi-Functional Consoles (MFCs) aboard the ship.

The MFCs form part of the Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS) of the project.

IMPS is a computerised system used onboard ships to monitor the working and course of the vessel and to warn against safety risks.

The spokesperson said that during multiple searches in Bihar, Rajasthan and Gujarat conducted on Wednesday, some stolen electronic devices were recovered and incriminating materials seized.

The case was first registered by Kerala Police on the complaint of the Cochin Shipyard authorities about the criminal trespass and theft of certain critical electronic components installed onboard the IAC.

The NIA took over the probe on September 26 last year under several sections of IPC and Information Technology Act.

The NIA had taken up the case following concerns over national security as sensitive information was stored in these hard disks.

An NIA spokesperson said it conducted a detailed investigation into the “blind case” and analyzed fingerprints and palm-prints of more than five thousand persons, who had worked for the IAC project during the relevant period.

A large number of witnesses were also examined.

The NIA had also announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh in March this year for giving credible leads in the case.

INS Vikrant is the first indigenous aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy. The work on the ship’s design began in 1999, and the keel was laid in February 2009. As of 2019, the ship is expected to start sea trials in February 2021 and enter service as early as 2023. The project cost has neared Rs 20,000 crore.

With the completion of INS Vikrant, India will join the ranks of US, UK, Russia, France and China in the construction of flight carriers. IANS

New Delhi, June 11

In a sharp retort to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s offer to share experience of his government’s cash transfer scheme, India on Thursday reminded him that the size of its economic stimulus package to deal with the coronavirus pandemic is as large as Pakistan’s GDP.

The response by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) came hours after Khan, in a series of tweets, offered to share with India Pakistan’s experience of implementing its “successful” cash transfer programme following reports of how poor people in India are battling poverty in view of the coronavirus lockdown.

“Pakistan is better known for making cash transfers to bank accounts outside the country rather than giving to its own people. Clearly, Imran Khan needs a new set of advisers and better information,” MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said during an online media briefing.

“We all know about their debt problem (almost 90 per cent of GDP) and how much they have pressed for debt restructuring. It would also be better for them to remember that India has a stimulus package, which is as large as Pakistan’s annual GDP,” he said.

Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a Rs 20 lakh crore economic stimulus package for various key sectors to deal with the adverse impact of the pandemic.

In his tweets, Khan said his government has successfully transferred Rs 120 billion in nine weeks to over 10 million families in a “transparent manner” to deal with the fallout of COVID-19 on the poor.

“I am ready to offer help and share our successful cash transfer programme, lauded internationally for its reach and transparency, with India,” the Pakistan prime minister added. PTI

Kathmandu, June 11

Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said his government will seek a solution to the Kalapani issue through diplomatic efforts and dialogue on the basis of historical facts and documents.

“We will get back the land occupied by India through dialogue,” Oli said while responding to questions in Parliament on Wednesday.

Souring of ties — the trigger

• The ties between India and Nepal came under strain after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a 80-km-long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh Pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on May 8.
• Nepal reacted sharply to the inauguration of the road claiming that it passed through Nepalese territory. India rejected the claim asserting that the road lies completely within its territory.

He claimed that India built a Kali temple, created “an artificial Kali river” and “encroached the Nepalese territory through deploying the Army” at Kalapani. The river defines the border between the two countries. Oli’s claim comes amid a raging boundary row between the two countries with India sternly asking Nepal not to resort to any “artificial enlargement” of territorial claims after Kathmandu released a new political map laying claim over Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura.

 

KP Sharma Oli, Prime Minister

Our ancestors founded and saved this country through their struggles. We will be able to establish our territorial integrity if we remain firm

The ties between India and Nepal came under strain after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a 80-km-long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh Pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on May 8.

Nepal reacted sharply to the inauguration of the road claiming that it passed through Nepalese territory. India rejected the claim asserting that the road lies completely within its territory.

Nepalese officials say Nepal had control over the area before 1962, when the India-China war took place. At that time India stationed its army seeking permission from then Nepalese rulers for temporary purpose, but it never removed its forces, they claim.

Although there are border issues in other areas such as Susta but the government has given priority to Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura as Nepali territories have not been captured by deploying army in other parts of its international border, Oli said in response to a question in Parliament.

Earlier this week, the Nepalese Parliament unanimously endorsed a proposal to consider a constitution amendment bill to pave way for putting the new political map that includes Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura in Nepal’s national emblem.

A discussion on the issue started in the Parliament since Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Shivamaya Tumbahanfe tabled a Bill for the second amendment to the Nepalese Constitution to incorporate the new political map of Nepal on May 31.

Prime Minister Oli said he was happy to learn that the unprecedented unity has been shown both within and outside the Parliament on the issue of national unity and territorial integrity. “Our ancestors founded and saved this country through their struggles. We will be able to establish our territorial integrity if we remain firm,” he said.

Prime Minister Oli also raised objection to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s reported remark that Nepal should not repeat the mistake which Tibet made. “If Adityanath spoke about that, it was not appropriate,” he said.

“It is not appropriate to threaten Nepal in that way… This should not have been spoken by a chief minister of UP,” he said. —PTI