Long View From Ladakh

Galwan’s lesson is that India needs allies against China. Three kinds of alliances are possible

- Gautam Bambawale

It has been a year since the incident at Galwan, eastern Ladakh where 20 Indian soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice, by laying down their lives, to protect India’s territorial integrity. This searing memory brought forcefully to the consciousness of the people of India the seriousness of China’s aggressive moving of several divisions of troops along with armor and artillery to this geography at the end of April-early May 2020.

A cold, calculated and rational analysis of this movement of troops and weapons leads to the conclusion that it was a methodically planned, flawlessly timed, and reasonably well-executed military maneuver aimed at ensuring that Chinese ground positions are more or less aligned with her conception of where the LAC lies. Additionally, the measure also denied area access to Indian troops to some of their habitual patrolling routes and points.

There can also be little doubt now that the People’s Liberation Army did catch India by surprise. However, the Indian Army was able to quickly and efficiently mobilise matching numbers of troops, thereby perhaps, preventing the PLA from achieving all the military objectives it had set for itself. Once mobilized in equal strength the Indian Armed Forces have given a stellar account of themselves.