Col. Manoj Pal (RNA Live Desk)
New Delhi (India) Beijing gained lot over the time”, the statement made by previous Army Chief General Naravane has provided another controversy to the opposition and added fuel to the fire to issue of Chinese encroachment of Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh and indication of opposition’s apprehension of establishing a village much inside the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
General Naravane in an interview in the program of ‘Podcast with Smita Prakash’, said that China’s attempts to change the status quo on the LAC by resorting to “Salami slicing” tactics have led to a “more assertive” response from the Indian Army as we all have witnessed on 09 December 2022.
Readers are informed that Salami Slicing is a tactical move wherein the enemy advances at a very slow pace over a long period and encroach a very small part of the land. Thereafter, temporary infrastructure is created not to attract the attention of the land owner. Over a period of time, the temporary base is frequented and become a permanent base for further advance. These are basically done to alter the non-marked “No Mans Land” because the Line of Actual Control is the line occupied by the forces and buffer zone is squeezed. When the forces are too close to comfort, the clashes take place. Recent example we have seen in Galwan and bloody outcome for both the side.
The former Army Chief statement came in the context of December 9 face off of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with Indian Army troops in the Yangtse area of Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh in which the PLA were thrashed and pushed back “more assertively”. He added that China has been into the altering the status quo along the LAC for decades in very small incremental steps which by itself doesn’t look very dangerous. The inch-by-inch progress over a long period of time, the gain is substantial.
The Defence Minister Mr Rajnath Singh made statement in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and assured the Members and the Country that “Our forces are committed to protecting our territorial integrity and will continue to thwart any attempt made on it”. He further added that “the scuffle led to injuries to a few personnel on both side but there are no fatalities or serious casualties on either side”.
The statement of the former Army Chief may be to inform people of India that any attempt to encroach the land of the Indian Territory, how small it may be and wherever it may be; will not be tolerated by the Indian Armed Forces and the Indian Army in particular. But twisting the fact is mastery of politician and will not miss an opportunity to make it a controversy because of selective reading and self-favouring interpretation. No previous governments are going to accept that any part of land was encroached by the Chinese PLA in their times. No such data is public or cannot be made public due to security reasons to disprove it.
