From Swagger To Dagger

With China prolonging the Doklam standoff, India’s military brass are gearing up for trouble in Ladakh

- R. Prasannan

The Jats, some 250 of them, are waiting in their tents, pitched across the stretch in Doklam, the region in Bhutan where the Chinese want to build a road. They have no fear. They believe they would get a three day warning about any Chinese strike from Baba Harbhajan, their guardian angel.

A soldier of the 23 Punjab regiment, Harbhajan disappeared during a patrol in 1968. His body was discovered later, but his spirit, dreaded by the Chinese as the ‘ghost who rides the white steed’, is still worshipped in a shrine near Nathu La, the mountain pass that connects Sikkim and Tibet. The baba has never let down the Indian Army, which treats him as a living trooper and accords him all privileges, including annual leave and timely promotions.

But, at 14,000ft, the commanders aren’t taking chances. During the two-month-old standoff, they have tried everything—from bluster to bullying and backtracking. But, with China standing firm on its demand that India clear out totally from Doklam, the troops are back. They belong to a Jat battalion, and they have come to stay. Watching them over are light gun batteries of an artillery regiment 15km away.

After drumming up war hysteria, with Defence Minister Arun Jaitley boasting of an India that is different from 1962 and General Bipin Rawat claiming capability to fight on two-and-a-half fronts, India had withdrawn most of its troops from Doklam by the third week of July, leaving behind a patrol party of about 40. The white flag was raised at the political level, too. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said in Parliament: “It is essential that all parties concerned display utmost restraint…. India is committed to working with China to find peaceful resolution of all issues in the border areas through dialogue.”