Dear Editor,
News of Chinese incursions on Indian soil seem to be a daily affair. However, attributing them all to media-hype may be unjustified – there is no smoke without fire. The reports of at least 11 incidents of Chinese infiltration last year and 16 cases of transgression in the first quarter of the current year, despite an effective Border Defence Cooperation Agreement in place alongwith the establishment of two more border personnel meeting points in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, tell a different story. Indeed, the statements made by some Chinese military powers-that-be in this connection fly in the face of the Sino-India pact over the Actual Line of Control.
Dialogue is the panacea to all controversies. Hence, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar’s visit to China next month will likely be fruitful only if he can talk to his counterpart in Beijing, successfully sort out differences between India and China, and bury the hatchet for good.
Azhar A Khan
via-e-mail
