New Delhi: Heaping praise on the troops guarding India’s border with China, the Director General of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) said that those from the newly introduced platoons have performed outstandingly during face-offs with Chinese troops in Arunachal Pradesh. He added that the episodes of face-offs are still continuing.
“Our Shaurya platoons have also done some outstanding work…there were some situations in Arunachal Pradesh where there were face-offs at several locations which are still going on…our Shaurya commando teams had done great work. It was a new initiative,” DG Shatrujeet Kapur told a gathering of the force’s troops and officers at the Himveer Samman Samaroh in Rajasthan’s Alwar Thursday.
Kapur’s remarks hold significance as they confirm, for the first time, episodes of face-offs with China in Arunachal Pradesh, including one at the time of last month’s BRICS Summit, which Chinese President Xi Jinping attended in New Delhi.
Kapur praised the training wing of the force for designing a new course for the troops called “Strike”, in which they were trained with new ways of battlecraft and tactics for better preparation on the frontline to avoid situations such as the one that had developed in Galwan in 2020, in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed during a skirmish with Chinese troops.
He noted a new opportunity in challenging Chinese troops by means of drones, adding that wars between Russia and Ukraine, and the United States and Iran, have shown that even smaller nations can mount a challenge to bigger nations. Each of the border-guarding battalions will have one drone platoon and that exercises, such as in-house drone manufacturing and drone pilot training, have been initiated, he said.
“It may be very difficult to counter China by conventional means because their PLA (People’s Liberation Army) and BDR ( Border Defence Regiment) have gone way ahead with investment and modernisation,” Kapur said at the event. “However, drones are a field where even a smaller nation can mount a substantial challenge to bigger nations. We have seen Ukraine, which is a much smaller country, has inflicted 10-15,000 casualties on Russian forces despite being a superpower.”
He further said, “Four years have passed; contrary to their claims of capturing Ukraine in four weeks, they are receiving 10,000 bodies each month. How big a loss they are suffering for one call.”
Kapur added that the Ministry of Home Affairs has given in-principle approval for more than Rs 3,000 crore as funds for drones and anti-drone systems, which the force will receive funds by 2030.
Asked by ThePrint about the military situation between the countries back in August and whether the issues had been raised at diplomatic level, the Ministry of External Affairs had said that such issues would have a bearing on the bilateral relationship.
“In matters relating to border areas, between India and China, we have always emphasised in discussions with the Chinese side that we consider these issues as most serious and that the maintenance of peace and tranquillity in these areas is of the utmost importance,” MEA official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said.
“We have also stated that the state of border affairs will reflect on the state of our larger bilateral ties. This was also reiterated at the 36th WMCC (Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs) meeting on the India-China border affairs which was held on the 6th (August), and you are already aware of the statement that we have put out.”
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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