It was in 2013 that a 21-day standoff took place between India and China in the Daulat Beg Oldie sector(DOB) in Eastern Ladakh, thereafter next year, the two sides were locked in a 16-day standoff in the Chumar sector of Ladakh, then, in 2017, the two countries were involved in a 73-day tense standoff in the Doklam region , then, the Ladakh standoff in 2020, where the two warring sides fought with Lathis and Bats and now in Tawang.
So, although the history of stand offs is old but What is new now is that ; both sides have kept their weapons in their respective kotes and are resorting to Lathis.
When the world over, the armies are known to fire for effect, we have these two armies fighting with Lathis, is there a reason for this? Does Lathi attack accrue some advantage?
What Weapons Had Achieved ?
In 1967 and 1987 stand offs at Nathu La and Sumrodong Chu, the Chinese were surprised by the use of weapons by the Indian army troops. Gen VN Sharma who was the Eastern Army Commander in 1987, while describing the incident said in an interview ;
“There was a Captain in charge, and he’d been told not to allow the Chinese to come inside there. The Captains are very fine officers of the Indian Army; they don’t think very much of their superiors but they are very well trained and they act on their own. When the Chinese Brigadier came up, he saw these chaps occupying the pass and he said— “Get the hell out of here. This is Chinese territory.” That captain answered, “I’m sorry, you are wrong, this is Indian Territory and you don’t come forward here.” The Chinese said, “No, you go away. We don’t want to tussle with you but please go away from Chinese territory.” The captain said, “Sorry, we are not moving.” But the Chinese kept advancing. When they were about fifty yards below him, the young Captain winked at the LMG gunner who fired off a burst, about two feet above the Chinese brigadier’s head. Even his cap flew off and went rolling down the khud [ravine], and that shocked him because he didn’t expect Indian troops to Fire. He went running back".
Although, the incident led to a diplomatic issue for many years but then even these skirmishes are also becoming a routine challenge, since last nine years and it is allowing Chinese to nibble our area inch by inch.
India and China share a long border of almost 4000 kms. In the Western Sector it is almost 2150 kms but the two differ on perception of the boundary line and in Eastern Sector IT spreads over 1350 kms and once again china does not recognise the border.
So, this leaves a huge frontline of almost 3500 kms to defend. With the tension building up and every inch becoming important, most of India’s best fighter aircrafts must have already been deployed to face the challenge from China and 1/3 of its fighting land force must be poised to deal with the Chinese along the 4000 kms long border.
So, Why the Lathis Now ?
Continuing with what Gen VN Sharma further said on that incident of 1987 ;
“The Chinese Brigadier reported to his headquarters that the Indians fired at us, and the Chinese foreign ministry contacted the Indian foreign ministry and the Indian foreign ministry contacted the Indian Army chief, the army chief contacted the Eastern Command and from there down back to the corps commander, Lt Gen Narahari and to the Divisional commander: “You should tell your chaps, you are not supposed to fire at the Chinese as per our hukum [order] and cross the line of actual control. Come back.”
This brings us to a point that our policy makers inorder to avoid taking a Confrontational approach against Chinese are issuing orders to the troops on ground to use Lathis instead of weapons ; It’s a defensive measure.
But then the question arises ; why are Chinese attacking us with Lathis instead of weapons - at Galwan and Tawang. In Tawang the Lathi attack took place at 3 AM and reportedly 35 Indian soldiers have been wounded.
The answer perhaps is - Chinese are using Lathis, because it suits them.
One, they know that they cannot stand a chance to fight Indian soldiers with weapons and Secondly, Lathi attacks would get them the same result as they desire. Along this huge mountainous frontline , they can afford to attack with Lathis any isolated post without the fear of any fatal injuries and also force Indians to deploy troops to guard every inch.
They are forcing us to Dissipate our scarce resources, scattering them all over, Right from Indian Ocean to Bay of Bengal, Arabian sea and on a land frontier of almost 4000 kms, making it difficult for us to challenge them in future.
Earlier the land border opposite China, was manned by few thousand troops, it is now being guarded by almost 3-4 times more troops and in addition more number of artillery guns, more fighter aircrafts and so on.
We may still not be eye ball to eye ball situation like on LC with Pakistan but gradually Chinese are turning this into a similar situation and this may suit them.
The LC between India and Pakistan is thousand kms long and it requires enormous number of troops and equipment to guard it and deter Pakistan from trying any adventurism, so imagine how many would be required to guard A FRONTAGE of almost 4000 kms, particularly when the fear is that it can be intruded from anywhere.
If we continue to fight with Lathis we will be scattering our resources all along the wide frontage, thereby making their task easier. We are in order to avoid the Confrontation inadvertently allowing the enemy to do the same as they did in 1962 ; They came and set behind us.