Nehru’s Folly and the ‘Loss’ of Tibet continues...

Events in Tibet after the Chinese PLA’s entry and take-over of all of Tibet have already been described. The Dalai Lama’s escape to India in March 1959, and the welcome accorded to him by both officials and the Indian public enraged the Chinese Communists.

Thereafter the situation on the borders began to deteriorate sharply. These far-flung frontier posts and the patrolling policy led to the first armed clash with China on August 25, 1959, at Longju in NEFA, between an Assam Rifles patrol and the PLA. The Government of India decide to hand over the responsibility of the border in NEFA to the Army, meaning that the immediate effect was only that the Assam Rifles frontier posts came under the operational control of the Army. The Kongka La clash in Ladakh in October 1959 followed. The decision taken after these two armed clashes, which were with para-military personnel, resulted in the Army’s getting involved with a large number of penny-packet farflung outposts which had the value of ‘showing the flag’, but had no tactical value or military potential. In Ladakh, the Army only assumed responsibility from April 1960 onwards, when 114 Infantry Brigade with two militia battalions, 7 J&K Militia and 14 J&K Militia arrived.

The brigade was brought up to three infantry battalions when a regular infantry battalion, 1/8 Gorkha Rifles, arrived in April 1961.

To be continued...