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NEHRU’S FOLLY AND THE ‘LOSS’ OF TIBET continues...
In November 1950 the Government of India appointed a larger committee headed by the Deputy Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Himmatsinghji. This ‘North and North-East Border Defence Committee’ as it was officially known (informally the ‘Himmatsinghji Committee), was asked to ‘to study the problems created by the Chinese aggression in Tibet and to make recommendations that should be taken to improve administration, defence, communication, etc, of all the frontier areas’. The committee included representatives from the Army (Lt. Gen Kalwant Singh, a Corps Commander), the Air Force, the Ministries of External Affairs, Communications and Home Affairs, and the IB. The Indian government’s information was that by January 1951, there were 10,000 to 20,000 troops in the area of Chamdo.
The Committee submitted its report in two parts, the first regarding the borders with Tibet in Sikkim and NEFA, the border with Bhutan, and the eastern border with Burma, after receiving the report of the earlier committee set up for NEFA. The second part contained recommendations regarding Ladakh and the frontier regions of Himachal Pradesh, U.P. and the Nepal border, which was submitted in September 1951. Based on these recommendations, India decided to strengthen the existing border checkposts and to increase their number.
By the end of 1952 there were 30 such posts set up all along the frontier, from Karakoram in Ladakh in the north to Kibithoo in NEFA in the north-east.
However, a known gap existed. In Ladakh, there were posts except in the north-eastern and northern areas, i.e., in Lingtzi Tang, Aksai Chin, the Soda Plains and the Depsang Plains. Because these areas were almost inaccessible and uninhabited, establishment of posts there was difficult, and so an alternative plan of extensive summer patrolling was worked out.
To be continued...