A classified report prepared by the Cabinet Secretariat on the recent Chinese incursion in Ladakh’s Daulat Beg Oldi sector has squarely blamed the Union ministry of home affairs for the lapse. This, sources said, is primarily due to the fact that the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the force guarding the India-China border, is under the direct administrative control of the MHA.
The report states that the “ITBP failed to act swiftly in an attempt to counter the movement of Chinese troops of the People’s Liberation Army across the Line of (Actual) Control”. The detailed note, which has been shared with the ministries of home, defence and the PMO, also points out that even after the Chinese pitched the tent in Indian territory the ITBP did not take immediate preventive measures, like cordoning them off or even cutting off their supply line.
The report highlights the fact that till 2010, when the DBO sector was under Army control, no incident of Chinese intrusion was reported from the region.
Sources said the recent incident in Ladakh has once against triggered a debate among top quarters in the government on whether a paramilitary force should indeed be deployed in sensitive border areas or these should be handed over to the Army.