China and Pakistan, two major neighbours to our east and west, are not interested in maintaining good friendly relations with us. Both of them have territorial aggrandizement. China is habituated to claim the territory of her neighbours by creating disputes without substance. In regard to her border with India, she has been harping on the McMohan Line drawn by the British imperialists during their rule over India. Throughout the British occupation of India, the Chinese had no problem with the McMohan Line and they accepted it as it was. But soon after the British quit India, China began raising the issue of border dispute claiming Arunachal as its territory. Beijing has not been able to produce any historical evidence to show that Arunachal was part of her territory or empire at any given point of time. China has been claiming many more areas all along the Indo-China border on the basis of the ethnicity of the people living in these areas. She claims that since the people living along the long border of nearly three thousand five hundred kilometres from Ladakh to Arunachal are of Mongoloid ethnic stock, the disputed areas belong to her. This is a preposterous claim and does not stand validity in historical terms. India is a mosaic of so many ethnic, linguistic, religious and cultural groups. They are all Indians ever since the dawn of history. People in many border areas of the county like Arunachal, Ladakh, Sikkim, parts of Himachal are derived from Mongoloid or Turko-Mongoloid stock. That does not mean that they are not Indians and have to be assigned to a neighbouring country.
In 1953 China forcibly occupied Tibet which was a sovereign State then. What justification did she have in doing so? Unfortunately, the then Indian Prime Minister, namely Nehru, closed his eyes to this aggressive stance of China and did not realise that allowing China to have its way in Tibet meant a direct threat to the sovereignty of the Indian state and the existing border between India and China. China not only occupied Tibet illegally but also turned hostile to India for giving asylum to the Tibetan refugees who had no alternative but to leave their land and come to the safe haven of India. Emboldened by her aggressive and occupational designs, China, ever since, began laying claim to Arunachal and parts of Ladakh.
Aware of the design of Beijing against India, and also the nexus it has formed with Pakistan, India is within her right to put whatever level of security is needed in place on the border with China. The Home Minister has announced creation of 54 new Border Out Posts with a budget of 175 crore rupees for infrastructure package for Arunachal Pradesh. Defence Ministry has already accorded sanction to creation of two more corps to beef up the security of border with China and one more corps in Ladakh. At the same time, the Centre has created a separate ministry to handle eastern States and the person in whose charge this ministry has been placed is no other than the ex-Army Commander who is fully conversant with the situation on ground in that area. In view of hostile stance of China on our borders whether in Arunachal or in Ladakh regions, the Indian Government has finally decided to further strengthen and streamline its security arrangement on the border despite objections by the Chinese. One can understanding how belligerent China intends to be that during the visit of the Chinese President to India in the month of September last, the Chinese troops violated the border in Ladakh and made forays only to be sent back after India made her military presence in the region.
The pattern of violating the sanctity of border by Pakistan on our west is markedly different from the pattern adopted by China. Pakistanis have been opening unprovoked firing and shelling along the LoC with the tacit intention of providing cover to the terrorists who are infiltrating into our side for destabilizing peace and normal life in our part of Kashmir. In view of this grave situation, India cannot neglect her security concerns and has to do all she can to ensure that the enemy does not get an upper hand. We welcome the decisive policy of the Home Minister saying that India wants peace with honour. We do not harbour any ill will against the people either in China or in Pakistan because we firmly believe in peaceful coexistence. It is they who must also recognize that they cannot hoodwink India in a manner they think it is easy to do. Our country will meet all exigencies according to their merit. The sooner the two neighbours understand that the better it would be for the entire region and South Asian situation.
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