scorecardresearch
Sunday, March 24, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomeOpinionWith 'Him Vijay' & Mountain Strike Corps, India can alter the way...

With ‘Him Vijay’ & Mountain Strike Corps, India can alter the way China border is managed

Indian Army's Mountain Strike Corps signals a historic shift in the way India defines deterrence in its relationship with China.

Follow Us :
Text Size:

China has reportedly expressed concern about the Indian Army’s ‘Him Vijay‘ exercise currently taking place in distinct phases in Arunachal Pradesh. The Chinese reaction is hardly surprising given the strategic significance of this exercise, which marks the unequivocal operationalisation of various elements of the Indian Army’s XVII Corps or Mountain Strike Corps, headquartered in Panagarh, West Bengal.

As the name suggests, this Corps has been specifically raised and designed to undertake offensive operations across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China. This, in turn, reflects a major change in India’s military posture vis-à-vis China, which has historically been of a wholly defensive orientation. Indeed, the People’s Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF) can no longer simply decide when and where to provoke the Indian Army, while being content with the belief that the best India could do was reinforce its position in the vicinity of the provocation.

More importantly, the Mountain Strike Corps signals a shift in the way India defines deterrence in its relationship with China.


Also read: Loss of friend Nepal & restive Kashmir, Modi’s plate is full as he meets China’s Xi Jinping


Deterrence as a military tactic

Deterrence usually takes a couple of forms. The first is the case of ‘deterrence by denial’. In this, the strategy is to deter enemy action by undermining a potential aggressor’s confidence in being able to attain key objectives, without incurring unacceptably high costs or risks. The second is ‘deterrence by punishment’, which seeks to temper aggressive intent by threatening to impose unacceptably high penalties on a potential attacker.

Since 1962, India has essentially maintained a ‘deterrence by denial’ posture along the LAC with the creation of several Indian Army mountain divisions designed to deny the Chinese any target of value, such as Tawang, which has historically been the most contentious element in India-China’s border dispute. This strategy, referred to as ‘dissuasion’ in Indian military parlance (dissuasion being the French word for ‘deterrence’), saw border areas being intentionally kept devoid of adequate infrastructure in order to make a Chinese advance that much more difficult, even as large Indian Army formations would seek to keep a close check on them in localised battles.

Unfortunately, by the 2010s, this dissuasive strategy became increasingly inadequate to deal with China’s current strategy of leveraging the potent communications infrastructure it has created on the Tibetan Plateau to intermittently provoke India with transgressions and even intrusions. These Chinese infringements intend to serve as a blackmail, reminding New Delhi of the possibility of de-facto occupation of parcels of territory owing to the mobilisation advantage possessed by Beijing’s forces.

The Indian Army’s response to this Chinese game has been to forward deploy troops even as it scrambles to fix infrastructural gaps. As a consequence, the Army is now almost linearly arrayed along the LAC without adequate defence in depth in certain sectors. It has also had to reinforce these forward posts over time in order to prevent them from being overwhelmed by Chinese patrols, besides increasing the frequency of its own patrols. But defending every ‘inch of soil’ along a Himalayan frontier is a financially expensive and logistically cumbersome proposition.

Moreover, while it is true that the PLAGF has been surprised by the sheer number of Indian troops it has encountered during recent transgressions and may even face reverses in a minor skirmish, the overall problem of the Chinese being able to mount a major offensive, with India being on the strategic defensive, cannot be addressed by forward deployment. If anything, it further reduces the Indian Army’s flexibility. The Chinese are still able to choose where and when to concentrate forces, and India is left scrambling to respond to a Chinese build-up.


Also read: Before Xi Jinping meets Modi, Indian Army raises the cost with Him Vijay exercise


Utilising MSC to an advantage

The answer, therefore, for India to be able to counter such threats lies in the creation of an offensive element that can deliver a ‘riposte’ by capturing a target of value in Tibet, just so that it could be used as a bargaining chip during a negotiation settlement on post-cessation of hostilities.

However, merely creating an MSC headquarters somewhere and raising a sizeable number of Indian Army troops does not constitute a deterrent. For the MSC to be effective, it must have very peculiar characteristics in terms of structure, equipment pattern and employment concepts, which in turn have to be refined via operational training.

This is precisely why ‘Him Vijay’ holds significance and has worried China. It shows that the MSC has matured enough for it to be operationally trialled in a major exercise.

Particularly noteworthy is the fact that for ‘Him Vijay’, the MSC is deploying three Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) that are offensively oriented and brigade-sized formations with integral artillery firepower and support elements. The troop strength of these IBGs suggests that the Indian Army has arrived at a fighting formation strength and structure suited to the logistical realities of mountainous terrain.

Now, there will always be a temptation to employ MSC elements in local counter-attacks to supplement the defensive fight by Indian Army mountain divisions. Indeed, the choice of exercise area for ‘Him Vijay’ in Arunachal Pradesh may lead some to believe that this might be a key role for the MSC to display its military prowess.

However, reportage about the objectives of the three IBGs being deployed during ‘Him Vijay’ suggest that the MSC’s brief is true to its name with ‘air assault’, ‘troop mobilisation’ and ‘mountain assault’ capabilities being tested during the exercise.

The positioning of the MSC’s other division, the 72nd, all the way North in Pathankot, suggests that the MSC is not going to be an area-specific enterprise, which intends to make it difficult for Chinese planners to pre-empt an offensive by blocking possible axes of advance into Tibet.


Also read: After Kashmir, Modi and Xi could struggle to recreate ‘Wuhan spirit’ in Mamallapuram


MSC — India’s prized possession

Interestingly, there is an obvious target for the MSC that the PLAGF may not be able to do much about. One is, of course, referring to the Chumbi Valley at whose foot lies the Doklam plateau that has emerged a flashpoint in recent times.

In fact, a credible MSC will undermine whatever psychological bulwark the PLAGF has been trying to gain by encroaching Doklam from the narrow confines of Chumbi.

Not only is there a major Indian presence on the flanks of Chumbi, the MSC will also in due course confer upon the Indian Army the capability to occupy dominating positions closer to the head of the Chumbi Valley in Tibet.

Indeed, the Chumbi Valley represents an ideal location in that the MSC elements will be capable of moving forward from launchpads secured by other Indian Army formations.

Overall, this shift in the Indian posture, if sustained through resources and commitment, will likely lead to a change in the way the India-China border is managed.

Credible offensive capability will make it psychologically easier for India to move back troops from the LAC in certain areas and instead use reserves and remote surveillance to mark its presence, much like the Chinese do today. Of course, this shift can only work once adequate transport infrastructure is in place. Perhaps this is the real challenge India must overcome at the earliest.

The author is a former consultant to FICCI’s International Division and Chief Editor of Delhi Defence Review. His Twitter handle is @SJha1618. Views are personal. 

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

4 COMMENTS

  1. The meeting concluded with onesided opinions & speculations, The Mahabali went to Indian friend said nothing . Undoubtedly India’s tortoise slowly follows China up till no deadline without reaching any solution.lets enjoy this Diwali with Chinese fire crackers, Aakashdeep,& electronics

  2. The author of this article knows nothing of the genius of Modi
    China will never be better than India.
    The author of this article to put it mildly is ignorant. It’s Better he joins a RSS Shaka and get enlightened.
    China should have followed the BJP/RSS path to development, the beacon and shining light to the whole world.
    Repeat several times, until it sinks in, China NEVER will be better than INDIA, never!
    As a patriotic Indian Muslim who can prove his citizenship, via my birth certificate, both my parents birth certificate, and all four grandparents birth certificates. My ancestral home built in 1870 is also proof we have lived as Muslims in this Hindu country for hundreds of years. I am waiting for the NCR to come to Kerala so I can apply for inclusion. To be part of this nation makes me so happy.
    It’s very sensible of Amit Shah to say we should throw these Muslim termites out. They give loyal Muslims like us living in a Hindu Rashtra a very bad name.
    PLEASE UNDERSTAND, I AM A MUSLIM AND A PROUD BJP VOTER AND AN ADMIRER OF NARENDRA MOD, I HAVE DECIDED FOR THE SAKE OF MY HINDU BROTHERS NOT TO EAT MEAT.
    FOR THE SAKE OF MY HINDU BROTHERS I WILL NEVER MARRY A HINDU GIRL OR DO LOVE JIHAD.
    I PROMISE NOT TO ‘BREED’ many children, as that is what annoys my Hindu brothers who voted for Narendra Modi.
    India is the greatest nation in the whole world. I am so proud to be an Indian. We are people of the most ancient civilisation. We have thousands of years of culture Behind us. I am so proud of my Hindu brothers, I am so proud of their rich culture, the traditions of Hindi and Sanskrit.
    I am wondering why my ancestors choose to leave Hinduism and embrace Islam. I am seriously thinking of leaving this Religion of the invader and the Terrorist and embracing Hinduism. I know if I convert to Hinduism I shall have to adopt a lower caste for myself, I can never be a Brahmin, but that is the price well worth paying For being part of this great caste system, the rich stories from the past, all those ancient marvellous inventions by the inventive Hindu and this great Hindu religion.
    Jai Shri Ram
    Reply

    • Sir. This is kind of you to think this way. But kindly don’t change your religion. Islam is also a good religion. There are many good Indian citizens who follow Islam. And as Indians we are proud of our unity in diversity.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular