The Army was given freedom to act as deemed necessary and it was prepared for the long haul during the Doklam stand-off last year but a full-fledged war was ruled out, said Lt. Gen. Praveen Bakshi (retd), then Eastern Army commander on Friday.
“When the decision was taken, I can confess, in my opinion it was not going to break into an all-out war. We had to factor that in for the simple reason, it was the wrong place to initiate a war. We were commanding heights… We were prepared for a long haul,” Lt. Gen. Bakshi said . He was speaking at an event on Doklam organised by the Institute of Chinese Studies.
Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda, then heading the Northern Command, said recent major stand-offs were in areas where India had strength, whether Doklam or Chumar.
“We will see more of these incidents. Certainly we haven’t seen the last of it. And the big worry is if it happens in an area where our infrastructure is not as well built up as in Ladakh or even in Sikkim… I think we will see something happen,” Lt. Gen. Hooda cautioned, calling parts of Arunachal Pradesh a huge worry.
Lt. Gen. Hooda also called for alternate plans in case China makes a transgression in an area of vulnerability. Observing that India was fortunate in Doklam, as its infrastructure was good, allowing the Army to respond quickly, he questioned: “What if it happens in some other area where we cannot respond as well and therefore, would there be a need to open up some pressure point in another area. May be we don’t need to do it. But we need to start making plans for that.”
He also called for a review of the existing protocols to deal with such stand-offs as they do not cater to situations like Doklam where thousands of soldiers moved in. Both the former commanders called for urgent attention to build infrastructure in vulnerable areas.
The Indian Army and Chinese PLA were engaged in a stand-off at Doklam near the India-Bhutan-China tri-junction from June 16 to August 28 in 2017 which ended after long diplomatic parleys.
