The government has at last given the green light to the raising of a mountain strike corps — an accretion of some 50,000 troops — in the eastern Himalayas to face up to a potential threat from China. This is to be welcomed.
The present move is not a sign of war-like intention, but a step towards preparation in meeting a future military crisis. Lest peaceniks get excited, it can be asserted that the Chinese themselves would see the development for what it is, although they may permit their think tanks to make appropriate propagandistic noises. This won’t wash.
It is well known that the modernisation of the Chinese armed forces, and the refurbishment of their force projection capabilities in Tibet, overlooking the Indian land mass — through significant build-up of personnel strength, the construction of all-weather roads to rapidly move men and material to deal with a contingency and the laying of airfields to berth combat aircraft for use against India — have advanced at double-digit rates of growth for the past two decades.
India, in fact, is late off the blocks in offering a response. But now that the decision has fructified, it is to be hoped that plan implementation will not be delayed. Indeed, we shall be signalling our intent with clarity if we can get the mountain corps up and running ahead of schedule.
India was humiliated in 1962. This was because our troops lacked the wherewithal, and not because they were wanting in grit or gumption. For reasons of political complacence, we had not kept enough forces on the border, and those that were there lacked appropriate clothing and equipment. But it wasn’t only a matter of betrayal of trust that Prime Minister Nehru spoke of. Fifty years ago, India did not have the financial resources to make the right preparations. That niggardly situation no longer obtains. For most of the years of this century, India’s growth rate has hovered about an impressive eight per cent, and that has made many things possible.
In the Sumdurong Chu kerfuffle of the late Eighties, Gen. Sundarji took the bold decision to land troops to send out a message, and the Chinese took note. The present decision to create a mountain strike corps will also certainly register with the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, under which the military operates. A debate can possibly be triggered in China that its military prowess has been projected in too ham-handed a manner, inviting a riposte. That’s no bad thing.