Last two weeks I was quite busy with something I had no idea about.unknowingly only but as I received few leading magazines through subscription, one story which ran common was “50 years of THE WAR WE LOST. It doesn’t sounds good when we read about something which happened when we dint exist and we had to bow our heads before some country and it gives a revenge sort of feelings. I had never been through the SINO-INDIAN WAR story apart from who lost and that is it. Why we lost?? Why someone attacked us as we are a country who believes in when things can be brought on track with friendship then why to spoil our relation with our neighbours who are always looking forward to suppress us with the help of communist power. Stories of the war published in half a dozen magazines had certain things in common. Role of pandit jawahar lal Nehru (jln) who was prime minister during that war and foreign minister Krishna menon is still condemned and not accepted largely. Those cover stories which I read half a dozen times made a deep impact on my mind about some truths and bitter truths which atleast for our generation is untold.
It would be better if you read those print media stalwarts stories but I am giving a try to share some fundamental mistakes and lessons we made n not yet learned respectively.
SOME OF THE REASONS/DEVELOPMENTS LEADING TO THE 1962 WAR:
1949: birth of people’s republic of china. We were the first country to validate the formation as well as witness the process.
1950: PLA(people’s liberation army) moves to liberate Tibet (in their words); JLN considers macmohan line as boundary.
1954: we had some agreements on Tibet with five pacts were signed. JLN visits china and PRC’s advisor zhou enlai visits india.
1955: the two personalities again meet in afro-asian summit in Indonesia.
1956: zhou visits india and a long sessions with Indian officials go on. JLN points out the flaw as chineese maps showing 1,20,000 sq. km. as their own land.
1959: monk dalai lama flees Tibet and along with 1,00,000 tibetan refugees takes shelter in dharmshala, himachal Pradesh. Zhou says JLN encouraging rebels and short border disputes reported between ind-sino army.
1960: zhou visits india and welcomed by lots of protests and widot conclusion on boundary dispute they meet a dead-end.
1961: india brings “forward policy” in scene to push back the chineese intruders.
1962: war erupts following the dead-end of talks on boundary dispute.
INDO-SINO BOUNDARY: TOTAL OVER 3500 KM.:
“CONTROVERSIAL MACMOHAN LINE RUNS ACROSS THE EASTERN SECTOR.EARLIER ARUNACHAL PRADESH WAS KNOWN AS “NORTH EASTERN FRONTIER AGENCY” (NEFA). IN WESTERN SECTOR, THE BOUNDARY LIES ALONG LADAKH,INCLUDING THE AKSAI CHIN PLATEAU. 70% OF AKSAI CHIN AND ADJOINING AREAS ARE NOW UNDER CHINEESE BOUNDARY. TROOPS OF INDO-SINO ARE NOW DIVIDED BY THE “LINE OF ACTUAL CONTROL” (LAC)”
PLATFORM OF INDO-SINO 1962 DISPUTE:
TIBET AS WELL AS THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE COUNTRIES PLAYED THE ROLE OF PERFECT PLATFORM TO INITIATE THE WAR. IN BRITISH REGIME AFTER THE SIMPLA PACT IN 1914 THE MACMOHAN LINE WAS DRAWN WITH THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN TIBET,INDIA AND CHINA. THOUGH CHINEESE WERE A PART OF THE SHIMLA PACT YET THEY DISCARD THE AGREMENT. FREE INDIA ACCEPTED THE MACMOHAN LINE AS THE EASTERN BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES. NO PEACEFUL RESOLUTION WAS REACHED OVER THE CHINEESE NOT AGREEING WITH THE MACMOHAN LINE AND INDIA INSISTING THAT LINE AS THE BOUNDARY. DALAI LAMA AFTER HE FLEES LHASA AND TAKES SHELTER ON INDIAN SOIL TOO FURTHER STRAINS THE BILATERAL TIES AS CHINEESE ACCUSED US OF WALKING WITH THE REBELS.
ONCE NEHRU INTRODUCES THE FORWARD POLICY TO PUSH BACK THE CHINEESE, THINGS GOT WORSE. SMALL TIME BOUNDARY CLASHES ERUPTED IN A WAR ON OCTOBER 20, 1962 WHICH LASTED FOR 4 WEEKS.CHINEESE FORCES PENETRATES DEEPLY INTO INDIAN TERRITORY AND AT LAST WITHDRAWS THEIR TROOPS TO GET BACK TO THE ACTUAL LINE OF CONTROL (LAC). CHINEESE TAKES FIRM CONTROL ON THE AKSAI-CHIN REGION AND SURROUNDING PARTS WHICH STILL IS CONTROLLED BY THE DRAGONS.
British journalist interview with the outlook tells more about the failures of our PM: he authored a book “INDIA’S CHINA WAR” was very much controversial due to he raised curtains over from the issues our people had a different point of view over.
According to him:
• “ Nehru’s most profound mistake?? His approach: “ we’ll decide where the boundary is. Its not negotiable.they have to accept”
• Maxwell says; “I went to india as a profound admirer of Nehru/ it was a bitter blow to see how foolish he had been with china on the border issue”
• India and china have never had a legal international boundary. The macmohan line is an Indian claim line.
• I kick and kick myself. I feel I did india an injury. Had I been sharper..i could have saved these two countries from war.
ROLE OF SOME KEY PERSONAE:
INDIAN FRONT:
JAWAHAR LAL NEHRU (PM): chief negotiator of the boundary dispute, wanted close, strong ties with china.
KRISHNA MENON(DEFENCE MINISTER): nehru’s closet aides and negotiators on the boundary dispute with china.
GEN. P.N. THAPAR( CHIEF OF ARMY STAFF): the key planner for the armed forces during the war.
LT. GEN. B.M. KAUL (NEFA COMMANDER): commander of eastern boundary.
B.N. MULLICK (DIRECTOR,IB): key advisor to Nehru tasked with assessing and reporting chineese activities along the boundary.
M.J. DESAI (FOREIGN SECRETARY): negotiator of the boundary dispute and advisor during the war.
CHINEESE FRONT:
MAO-TSE TUNG (CHAIRMAN OF PRC): unquestioned leader and chief formulator of china’s foreign policy.
LIU SHAQI(PRC PRESIDENT): looked after the day-to day affairs of the country during mao’s absence.
ZHOU ENIAI(PREMIER): advisor of mao and chief negotiator during the boundary dispute.
DENG XIAOPING(GEN. SECY. OF THE CPC): planning of war handled with mao.
CHEN YI(FOREIGN MINISTER): boundary dispute negotiator. Who with menon came close to breakthrough.
ZHANG GUOHUA(CHINEESE GENERAL): played a key role during the invasion of Tibet.chosen by mao to play an important role in the 1962 war as well.
DECLARATION: I abhimanyu take full responsibility that the observation and piece of information is no way copied however after going through numerous articles and interviews I got the idea and gave it my format.
BusEkMusafir 