IRS seminar: Sino-Indian border clashes outcome of Indo-US strategic partnership

Islamabad: Former diplomat Shahid Masroor Gul Kiani has linked the Sino-Indian border clashes in Ladakh to the compulsions of the Indo-US strategic partnership aimed at containing China.

Kiani was speaking at an event organised here by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS). Kiani argued that the Modi government got unnecessarily carried away by its alliance with the US which, according to him, had laid to rest any claims of India with regard to its non-alignment. He was of the view that the China-India standoff in Galwan signified the importance of border demarcations in the region which was not realised even by seasoned Indian politicians like Jawaharlal Nehru.

He opined that Chinese premier Zhou Enlai had proposed to India to let China keep Aksai Chin in exchange for China accepting Indian control of the southern slopes of the Himalayas in April 1962.

The proposition, according to Kiani, was rejected by Nehru and the 1962 Sino-Indian war took place in October the same year. To the contrary, Kiani maintained that Pakistan exhibited wisdom when it entered into a border agreement with China in March 1962 to avoid any misunderstanding between the two brotherly neighbouring countries.

He stated that while the Chinese were very clear on the demarcation of the 3,440 km-long border with India, it was the Indian leadership that was confused about it. He added that the clashes between the Chinese and Indian forces in March 2020 were the result of a build-up of tensions between the two states since May 2019 when the Chinese objected to Indian construction on the Chinese side of the border without informing the Chinese. He opined that diplomatic protocol demanded that activity along the un-demarcated border should have been notified to the Chinese side but since India had ulterior motives it clandestinely conducted construction activities with a mala fide intention.

He also linked the Sino-Indian border clashes of 2020 in Galwan to the Indian actions in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, especially the revocation of the special status of Kashmir.

He was of the opinion that Indian military build-up along the un-demarcated border with China was part of the Indian consolidation of its illegal occupation of IIOJK that includes Ladakh.