Army alarmed as government ignores Chinese intrusions

George Iype in New Delhi

Heavily armed Chinese border security guards have intruded deep inside the Indian territory at Himachal Pradesh at least 13 times since January.

But India's defence ministry has ignored these intrusions on the Line of Actual Control -- separating India and Tibet -- calling them ''minor incidents''.

However, Indian army intelligence reports, submitted to the ministry, reveal that Chinese intrusions at Track Junction in the peaceful central border sector of Himachal Pradesh are frequent. The reports state that the Chinese border guards often come in trucks and drive through the rugged terrain at least four to five km inside the Indian territory. The soldiers, then, with the help of binoculars, look around the areas. Often they come in a platoon of some 30 soldiers.

The reports further state that the Chinese troops return to Tibet only after the Indian soldiers remind them that they had crossed the Line of Actual Control and were in Indian territory. The Indian soldiers have so far shown restraint. ''We always approach the Chinese with a white flag to avoid tension and shoot-out on the border,'' an army official said .

"But the frequency of intrusions is alarming and therefore Army headquarters has already written to the defence ministry, asking it to take up the matter with the Chinese authorities,'' he told Rediff on the NeT.

It is intriguing that the Chinese are intruding into Track Junction, located 15,000 ft above sea level. The place has seen fewer skirmishes and disputes than the eastern and western side of the border with Tibet, he added.

Interestingly, the issue was raised in Parliament on February 26 by Bharatiya Janata Party member Vijay Kumar Malhotra. Then external affairs minister Inder Kumar Gujral promised that Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav would make a statement in Parliament.

After mulling over the army intelligence reports, Yadav told Parliament that the Chinese intrusions were ''minor incidents''. The ministry's silence on the issue is shocking considering the experts' view that they pose a security threat to India.

"It is intriguing that the Indian government considers them minor incidents," says a security expert at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis. One reason for the intrusions could be that China is concentrating on the central sector of the Indo-Tibet border, he said.

"India can take up the issue with the Chinese authorities as both the countries have taken several measures to reduce the strength of security forces long the border and disengage them from eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation,'' he told Rediff on the NeT.

Security experts at IDSA believe that India will soon be forced to articulate its fears about the security threat. Remember how the defence ministry's national security report for 1996-97 expressed concern over China's development of nuclear and missile capabilities, they ask. The report also draws attention to Chinese up-gradation of logistical capabilities along the border for strengthened air operations.

A senior defence ministry official said China has built up an impressive 'surveillance and obstruction' system on the border to receive the Indian army's air messages.

''We have received a number of intelligence reports that the Chinese army was intercepting wireless messages at the Bhuntar airport in Himachal Pradesh,'' he told Rediff on the NeT. He said the issue will be on top of Prime Minister Gujral's agenda if he visits China.

In November 1996, Chinese President Jiang Zemin visited India -- the first by a Chinese president ever. The two countries then signed an agreement to cut troop levels along the 4,000-km border.

Gujral was to visit China in May in his capacity as external affairs minister. But with his elevation to the premiership, the follow-up trip to Jiang's visit has not yet been fixed.