NEW DELHI: India is fully prepared to hold ground in eastern Ladakh against China for as long as it takes to meet national objectives, said the Army chief on Tuesday, even as his 13-lakh force rebalances towards the Line of Actual Control as the primary front from the decades-long focus on Pakistan.
“There is no doubt China and Pakistan together form a potent threat for India and the threat of collusivity cannot be wished away. The collusive threat is not just a strategic paper or talk...It’s manifesting itself on the ground,” said General M M Naravane, speaking ahead of the Army Day on January 15.
He expressed hope India and China would “amicably resolve” the ninth-month long military confrontation in eastern Ladakh, which has shown no signs of de-escalation till now, on the basis of “mutual and equal security” through diplomatic and military talks.
But at the same time, he asserted, Indian forces are maintaining a high level of operational readiness to deal with all eventualities along the 3,488-km LAC, from eastern Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh.
“We are alert and ever-ready to meet any challenge,” said Gen Naravane, adding that the recent troop withdrawal from “depth areas” along the LAC did not amount to much because there was no reduction in force-levels on the frontline or “friction points” in eastern Ladakh.
TOI in November had reported India was fast-tracking the rebalance of military forces and firepower to the northern borders with China and the critical Indian Ocean Region in wake of the standoff in eastern Ladakh.
Confirming this operational recalibration on Tuesday, Gen Naravane said, “Ladakh showed a certain amount of re-balancing to the northern borders was required. That is what we have put in place now.”
The Army has14 corps (with around 40,000 to 70,000 troops in each), with four of them being “strike” formations. They are the 1 Corps (Mathura), 2 Corps (Ambala) and 21 Corps (Bhopal) for Pakistan, and the relatively new and truncated China-specific 17 Corps (Pannagrah).
Gen Naravane confirmed to TOI that orders have now been issued for changing the operational role of 1 Corps, which will now focus on the northern sector with China, including Ladakh.
The 17 Corps, in turn, will concentrate on a strike role in the eastern sector of the LAC, including the Chumbi Valley opposite Sikkim. In conjunction with other steps, this amounts to a decisive shift away from focusing primarily on the western front with Pakistan.
Acknowledging that China had the “first-mover advantage” in April-May, when it “suddenly” diverted troops from exercises towards eastern Ladakh, Gen Naravane said India had in turn surprised the PLA by proactively occupying the heights in south bank of Pangong Tso-Chushul area on August 28-30.
India has to be prepared to deal with “a two-front threat” by “prioritizing” one front over the other as and when required, he said. The bulk of the forces would be deployed to deal with the primary front, while maintaining a deterrence posture on the secondary front.