By: Azhar Azam
*This is one of my articles (unedited) that first appeared in "Daily Times":
https://dailytimes.com.pk/471388/ladakh-an-indian-us-playfield-to-contain-china-monitor-russia/
Donald Trump’s hard-selling Kashmir mediation bid was always succumbed to despair so it did over a dining table co-shared by the US President and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Biarritz, France. He now counsels India and Pakistan to resolve the all differences including Kashmir dispute through bilateral talks.
In other words, the US president has pragmatically vetted Indian divisive and conflict-ridden move to dismantle the autonomous status of its controlled part of Kashmir and splitting the region into two union territories – Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and Ladakh.
Right-winged, nationalist BJP would profoundly exploit the veiled US endorsement to further militarize China-India-Pakistan contested zone and coerce about 12 million people of Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh to crouch down to Hindu-extremist ideology.
Insoluble Kashmir puzzle would additionally dampen the already ruptured New Delhi’s bilateral relations with Beijing and Islamabad as well as procreate frictions and spark tensions in probably the most destabilized region in the world.
As international community and the global media is deeply focused on Indian crackdown on Kashmiris, the carving out of Ladakh could be seen as a joint Indian-US action in the larger perspective to check China’s growing influence and to monitor Russia.
This may be the reason why just within over a month of gaining the status of union territory, worries have prevailed over initial excitements even among the non-Muslim population of Ladakh. The fear of “outsiders” threatening the existence of the locals is now gripping the streets of Leh, the capital of Ladakh.
Though the United States is relatively vocal on J&K but its muteness on Ladakh, which also continues to witness a heavy lockdown after contentious Indian decision, fans the apprehensions about an Indian-US larger regional strategic alliance.
Albeit all its efforts to take effective control of Afghanistan, Washington has yet failed to purge Afghan Taliban and use the distraught country freely as a base to keep tabs on China and Russia. It, therefore, might have been considering to looking out for an alternative strategic location.
At the same time, India has been the only regional country that was seeing Taliban-US peace negotiations as a threat to its national security and higher stakes in Afghanistan, fearing to concede the strategic balance in favor of China and Pakistan.
The evolving regional scenario could drive New Delhi and Washington to marry into a more strengthened strategic alliance and make Ladakh potentially a new US joint strategic base in the region.
Ladakh’s vital strategic importance of gaining direct access to Tarim Basin and the Tibetan plateau pushes for a deeper Indian-US cooperation. Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) is the existing Indian military base in located on the ancient trade route connecting Ladakh to Tarim Basin in northwest Chinese Xinjiang region.
While Ladakh will now be an Indian union territory without an assembly, the doubts over US growing strategic interests in the region mount drastically. With no Ladakh political representation, the step to install an Indo-US strategic base would be comparatively much affluent.
On Wednesday, the border tensions between India and China heated up once again after troops from the both sides engaged in a brawl near the northern bank of 134-km long Pangong Tso (Pangong Lake), which extends from Tibet to Ladakh and largely controlled by China.
However, the situation was defused and soldiers were “completely disengaged” after Brigadier level talks across the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
But the situation could escalate soon as India would be launching the biggest military drills comprising about 15,000 soldiers, including air force personnel, in the disputed Arunachal Pradesh, which China calls South Tibet, near the Chinese border.
The radical and hawkish BJP leaders have been publicly threatening to annex Pakistan-administrated Kashmir and Chinese Aksai Chin. In his speech to Lok Sabha, Indian Home Minister Amit Shah pledged to die for both territories.
"Kashmir is an integral part of India. I want to make it absolutely clear that every single time we say Jammu and Kashmir it includes Pak-Occupied Kashmir (including Gilgit-Baltistan) as well as Aksai Chin. Let there be no doubt over it. Entire Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the Union of India," Shah said.
New Delhi could term it a political stunt to gain common Indians’ empathies but the diplomatic rhetoric continued. While talking to Hindustan Times afterwards, Indian diplomats affirmed that India has the right to expect China to respect its sovereign claims over Ladakh and Aksai Chin just as China expects India to accept its claims over Tibet, Taiwan, and Xinjiang as part of the “One China” policy.
BJP has a history of criticizing Beijing for “occupying” Aksai Chin. Addressing an election-bound rally in Ladakh in November 2014 – Indian Home Minister (now Defense Minister) Rajnath Singh panned China for illegally seizing the Aksai Chin area.
He also came down on Chinese military for their “Incursions” in the mountainous expanse. On August 29, he again travelled to Buddhist-dominant Leh town of Ladakh to arouse the Indian military.
SO India underpins the paramount strategic importance of Ladakh, without which People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “would be sitting on the southern foothills of the Himalayas.” Lately, the idea to blunt the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is being rejuvenated in India by offering China an alternative energy corridor from an Indian port running across Ladakh to China. “Why not jointly use the Aksai-Chin highway? “
In the form of Ladakh, India and the US would find a common area of cooperation to impede China. While US presence on a closer front would allow India to expand its influence, defense authorities in New Delhi could ratify the notion.
Given the proximity of China-India-Pakistan border and the pervasive presence of Indian Army and paramilitary forces, Ladakh’s strategic importance intensifies substantially. And with limited Indian military capability to match Chinese growing military might, an Indian-US military cooperation couldn’t be completely ruled out.
*This is one of my articles (unedited) that first appeared in "Daily Times":
https://dailytimes.com.pk/471388/ladakh-an-indian-us-playfield-to-contain-china-monitor-russia/
Donald Trump’s hard-selling Kashmir mediation bid was always succumbed to despair so it did over a dining table co-shared by the US President and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Biarritz, France. He now counsels India and Pakistan to resolve the all differences including Kashmir dispute through bilateral talks.
In other words, the US president has pragmatically vetted Indian divisive and conflict-ridden move to dismantle the autonomous status of its controlled part of Kashmir and splitting the region into two union territories – Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and Ladakh.
Right-winged, nationalist BJP would profoundly exploit the veiled US endorsement to further militarize China-India-Pakistan contested zone and coerce about 12 million people of Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh to crouch down to Hindu-extremist ideology.
Insoluble Kashmir puzzle would additionally dampen the already ruptured New Delhi’s bilateral relations with Beijing and Islamabad as well as procreate frictions and spark tensions in probably the most destabilized region in the world.
As international community and the global media is deeply focused on Indian crackdown on Kashmiris, the carving out of Ladakh could be seen as a joint Indian-US action in the larger perspective to check China’s growing influence and to monitor Russia.
This may be the reason why just within over a month of gaining the status of union territory, worries have prevailed over initial excitements even among the non-Muslim population of Ladakh. The fear of “outsiders” threatening the existence of the locals is now gripping the streets of Leh, the capital of Ladakh.
Though the United States is relatively vocal on J&K but its muteness on Ladakh, which also continues to witness a heavy lockdown after contentious Indian decision, fans the apprehensions about an Indian-US larger regional strategic alliance.
Albeit all its efforts to take effective control of Afghanistan, Washington has yet failed to purge Afghan Taliban and use the distraught country freely as a base to keep tabs on China and Russia. It, therefore, might have been considering to looking out for an alternative strategic location.
At the same time, India has been the only regional country that was seeing Taliban-US peace negotiations as a threat to its national security and higher stakes in Afghanistan, fearing to concede the strategic balance in favor of China and Pakistan.
The evolving regional scenario could drive New Delhi and Washington to marry into a more strengthened strategic alliance and make Ladakh potentially a new US joint strategic base in the region.
Ladakh’s vital strategic importance of gaining direct access to Tarim Basin and the Tibetan plateau pushes for a deeper Indian-US cooperation. Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) is the existing Indian military base in located on the ancient trade route connecting Ladakh to Tarim Basin in northwest Chinese Xinjiang region.
While Ladakh will now be an Indian union territory without an assembly, the doubts over US growing strategic interests in the region mount drastically. With no Ladakh political representation, the step to install an Indo-US strategic base would be comparatively much affluent.
On Wednesday, the border tensions between India and China heated up once again after troops from the both sides engaged in a brawl near the northern bank of 134-km long Pangong Tso (Pangong Lake), which extends from Tibet to Ladakh and largely controlled by China.
However, the situation was defused and soldiers were “completely disengaged” after Brigadier level talks across the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
But the situation could escalate soon as India would be launching the biggest military drills comprising about 15,000 soldiers, including air force personnel, in the disputed Arunachal Pradesh, which China calls South Tibet, near the Chinese border.
The radical and hawkish BJP leaders have been publicly threatening to annex Pakistan-administrated Kashmir and Chinese Aksai Chin. In his speech to Lok Sabha, Indian Home Minister Amit Shah pledged to die for both territories.
"Kashmir is an integral part of India. I want to make it absolutely clear that every single time we say Jammu and Kashmir it includes Pak-Occupied Kashmir (including Gilgit-Baltistan) as well as Aksai Chin. Let there be no doubt over it. Entire Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the Union of India," Shah said.
New Delhi could term it a political stunt to gain common Indians’ empathies but the diplomatic rhetoric continued. While talking to Hindustan Times afterwards, Indian diplomats affirmed that India has the right to expect China to respect its sovereign claims over Ladakh and Aksai Chin just as China expects India to accept its claims over Tibet, Taiwan, and Xinjiang as part of the “One China” policy.
BJP has a history of criticizing Beijing for “occupying” Aksai Chin. Addressing an election-bound rally in Ladakh in November 2014 – Indian Home Minister (now Defense Minister) Rajnath Singh panned China for illegally seizing the Aksai Chin area.
He also came down on Chinese military for their “Incursions” in the mountainous expanse. On August 29, he again travelled to Buddhist-dominant Leh town of Ladakh to arouse the Indian military.
SO India underpins the paramount strategic importance of Ladakh, without which People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “would be sitting on the southern foothills of the Himalayas.” Lately, the idea to blunt the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is being rejuvenated in India by offering China an alternative energy corridor from an Indian port running across Ladakh to China. “Why not jointly use the Aksai-Chin highway? “
In the form of Ladakh, India and the US would find a common area of cooperation to impede China. While US presence on a closer front would allow India to expand its influence, defense authorities in New Delhi could ratify the notion.
Given the proximity of China-India-Pakistan border and the pervasive presence of Indian Army and paramilitary forces, Ladakh’s strategic importance intensifies substantially. And with limited Indian military capability to match Chinese growing military might, an Indian-US military cooperation couldn’t be completely ruled out.