Tensions remain high as China and India hope for breakthrough in standoff

Ground Report | New Delhi: Tensions remain high as China; The standoff with China that started in Ladakh last year is not over yet. Talks of talks from both sides keep coming to the fore but the tension does not seem to be reducing. Now news has come out that India will build 4 airports and 37 helipads in Ladakh.

It seems as if India has started working on the strategy to take back Aksai Chin. Home Minister Amit Shah had clearly said that Aksai Chin is a part of India and would give his life for it, when the House was discussing the removal of Article 370 and making Ladakh a Union Territory.

Four new airports and 37 helipads planned in Ladakh

India has started the work of promoting air connectivity in the Ladakh region so that the movement of troops can be done in large numbers. Keeping in mind the border line with China, four new airports and 37 helipads are being planned in Ladakh. These new air links will not only boost tourism but will also act as an important asset for the armed forces. Along with this, the work of providing quick relief during natural calamities will also come. Along with this, defense experts say that these new constructions will make it easier to keep an eye on Aksai Chin.

China has also increased its actions across the border. China is constantly engaged in increasing its airbase in the area of ​​Tibet. Dragon is also doing modernization as well as repairs to the airfields. Not only this, if media reports are to be believed, small airstrips are also being converted into runways for landing large aircraft carrying military aircraft and military equipment. This is the reason that now India has also decided to send a strong message to China by building new airports and helipads. Roads and bridges have already been prepared on a large scale in the areas adjoining the border under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi.

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According to the report, the government has already identified land for four new airports that will be able to land even larger aircraft. One of these four airports will also be constructed in Leh city. This airport will also act as an alternate airfield. Along with this, an airport will also be built in the Zanskar Valley, which will connect this region to other parts.

The government is also planning an airport near Chang Thang which is connected to Pangong Tso Lake. It is the same place where last year China escalated border tensions by sending thousands of its People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). However, India's army retaliated valiantly in Galwan and gave a strong reply to China.

Meanwhile, 37 helipads are currently under construction in Ladakh. These are spread over the remote and inaccessible hills of the Union Territory. Once the construction is complete, these helipads will also be capable of handling heavy Chinook CH 47 helicopters. According to the report, many of these are likely to be commissioned this year.

According to the plan, the most important thing is that the government wants to keep all these airports and helipads always ready for big aircraft so that there is no delay in any disaster. Not only this, the way the preparations are going on, it is reportedly being feared that Prime Minister Modi is preparing to get Aksai Chin back from Chinese occupation in India.

PLA becoming aggressive day by day

In June last year, 20 soldiers and reportedly four Chinese soldiers were killed in the deadliest conflict between the two countries in more than 50 years, after months of escalating tensions along the India-China border in Ladakh. Firing with weapons forbidden, both sides fought in medieval fashion on the icy mountain cliffs of Galwan Valley, using pointed clubs and killing many soldiers.

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The conflict did not result in an outright declaration of war, but instead over a year of building troops, artillery, and infrastructure on either side of the 2,100-mile border oversaw several rounds of de-escalation and unsuccessful military negotiations. At any time in history, when China invaded India in 1962.

Indian Army officials allege that the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) is becoming aggressive day by day. Although the Indian government denied the recent clashes between the two sides, army officials told the Guardian that the situation in eastern Ladakh's Galwan Valley and hot springs, including areas, remained extremely tense, The Guardian reported.

Tensions remain high as China

Sonam Tsering, a local resident of Chushul and former local councillor, said the situation along the border was the most militarized one can remember in the village, with the two armies looking ready to attack, especially in areas of eastern Ladakh.

He said, 'Our elders say that even in the 1962 war, man and machinery were not deployed in this way. “The army base in Chushul has been expanded several times. Now people are not allowed near the border and there is a ban on the arrival of tourists. (Tensions remain high as China)

Durbuk is another strategic military base in eastern Ladakh that has expanded significantly. Locals say hundreds of new tents have been erected in recent months to accommodate more troops, while new structures have been erected to shield tanks and large vehicles. Deldon, who runs a guest house in the village of Durbuk, described how "during the night, we see large convoys of army trucks and tanks moving towards the border".

For locals in Ladakh, who have spent a year watching troops, tanks, helicopters, and heavy artillery brought to the border, fear remains. "I hope war never breaks out here," said Dolma Dorje, who grew up in Chushul village, near a huge military base along the Line of Actual Control , the unmarked disputed border between India and China. "But it seems that preparations for war are taking place."

Before the conflict in Galwan, Dorje and most of the villagers, who are tribal Changpa pastoralists, took their livestock to the vast, wide valleys without any other consideration of the range and mingled freely with the pastoralists on the Chinese side. . “We will trade cattle and carpets and more with people on the other side,” he said.

In some of the most tense areas, a buffer zone has been agreed between Indian and Chinese troops to prevent troops from attacking, and frontline troops "displaced in the Galwan Valley and Pangong Lake area", according to the Chinese foreign minister. is. But locals say it does not reflect the ground reality and reject any talk of de-escalation.

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