Skip to main content

China lodges protest over Indian troop movements

By himalayanreview
By Jawed Naqvi

NEW DELHI, Jan 27: China has lodged a diplomatic protest over Indian military activity in Sikkim and claimed that Indian troops were trying to be active on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) that divides their troops along the disputed Himalayan border, the Sunday Express said.

Coming shortly after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s successful tour of China earlier this month, which followed the first ever joint exercise by the armies of both countries, the protest has stumped New Delhi, the paper said.

“It’s learnt that China has taken objection to building of structures along the LAC and the Indo-Bhutan border, pointing out that this is in violation of the understanding to maintain peace in the area,” the Sunday Express said. “The timing of the protest — after Singh’s China visit and ahead of his maiden trip to Arunachal Pradesh — has once again brought the boundary question in the spotlight.”

India last week appointed former army chief Gen J.J. Singh as its governor in the disputed state. India and China signed an agreement on peace and tranquillity along their borders in 1993 that appears to have worked well.

India says some transgressions by Chinese troops have occurred but given the nature of the terrain some of this is inevitable. “It may be noted that India did not specifically take up reports of Chinese incursions and transgressions during the visit (by the Indian prime) despite confirmations of aggressive patrolling by China and a reassessment of Chinese ability to move in troops more quickly,” the Express said.

The reopening of claims, particularly on the Sikkim border, has taken India by surprise, it added. “According to informed sources, India has been strengthening existing defences on its side of the LAC in Sikkim,” the paper acknowledged. “It may be noted that troops about a division strong had been moved out of the area to Jammu & Kashmir a few years ago. But over the past year, they have been moved back to their defensive positions in North Bengal and Sikkim.” As a result, some of the facilities and structures that existed previously are being strengthened and are not seen by Delhi as a violation.

The newspaper noted that there is fresh thrust at the political level to improve infrastructure along the LAC, which includes building more accessible roads and better facilities near Indian posts. “In fact, ahead of the PM’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, the Defence Ministry has given its go-ahead for IAF reviving four airfields in the state.”

http://www.dawn.com/2008/01/28/top10.htm
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

India’s illegal occupation of independent Sikkim has to be reversed

By himalayanreview
Extracted from Pakistan Defence India’s “Chief Executive” in Gangtok wrote: “Sikkim’s merger was necessary for Indian national interest. And we worked to that end. Maybe if the Chogyal had been smarter and played his cards better, it wouldn’t have turned out the way it did.” It is also said that the real battle was not between the Chogyal and Kazi Lendup Dorji but between their wives. On one side was Queen Hope Cook, the American wife of the Chogyal and on the other was the Belgian wife of the Kazi, Elisa-Maria Standford. “This was a proxy war between the American and the Belgian,” says former chief minister BB Gurung. But there was a third woman involved: Indira Gandhi in New Delhi. Chogyal Palden met the 24-year-old New Yorker Hope Cook in Darjeeling in 1963 and married her. For Cook, this was a dream come true: to become the queen of an independent kingdom in Shangrila. She started taking the message of Sikkimese independence to the youth, and the allegations started flying thic...
19 comments
Read more

The Gorkhas - Sons of the Soil, Pride of the Nation

By himalayanreview
 Nanda Kirati Dewan, a journalist from Assam traces the origin of the Gorkhas in India. Many people have misconceptions about the Gorkhas in India - that they are foreigners and have migrated from Nepal. There could not be a greater mistake than this. The Gorkhas are in fact the aborigines of India and they can trace their history back to ancient times. The Gorkha community is the product of Indo-Aryan and Mongoloid assimilation from ages past. As a linguistic group, they can trace their origin back to Indo-Aryan and Tibeto-Burman beginnings. In fact, the Gorkhas consist of both Indo-Aryan and Mongoloid racial groups. In the Mahabharata and Manusmriti names of Khasa are mentioned. They are in fact the Gorkhas. The Gorkhas spoke the language then known as Khaskura Khasas as a community existed in Nepal which it later changed to another ethnic name. The Lichchhavis, one of the aboriginal tribes of India originally lived in the plains of present Nepal. During the early centu...
9 comments
Read more

JANHA BAGCHA TEESTA RANGIT

By himalayanreview
This was a national song of Sikkim sung in the Nepali language during the monarchy system. During the merger with India, the song got banned and later re-released. Two words on the 8th para, which earlier said 'Rajah rah Rani,' were replaced with "Janmah bhumi."     This song was dedicated to the King and Queen of Sikkim. The song lyrics were penned by Sanu Lama, and the music was composed by Dushyant Lama.  The song was first sung on the birth anniversary of Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal on April 4, 1970, at Gangtok by Aruna Lama, Dawa Lama, and Manikamal Chettri.    JANHA BAGCHA TEESTA RANGIT,  JAHAN KANCHENDZONGA SEER   YEHI HO HAMRO DHANA KO DESH,  TAPAWAN HO PYARO SIKKIM     INTERLUDE     PHULCHAN YEHA AANGANAI MAA,  CHAAP , GURAS, SUNAKHARI   SWARGASARI SUNDAR DESH KO  HAMRO PYARO PYARO JANMAHBHUMI     JANHA BAGCHA……     BATASHLE BOKCHAA YAHA,  TATHAGAT KO AAMAR WAANI ...
16 comments
Read more