Indian Army Orders People Near Doklam to Vacate Their Village

Indian Army Orders People Near Doklam to Vacate Their Village

Nathang village is 35 km from the Doklam India-Bhutan-China tri-junction, the site of the two-month old standoff between Indian and Chinese troops.

Karma Paljor | News18.comKarma_Paljor
Updated:August 10, 2017, 3:25 PM IST

New Delhi: The Indian Army has ordered the evacuation of a village close to the Doklam India-Bhutan-China tri-junction.

According to sources, a few hundred villagers living in Nathang village have been asked to vacate their houses immediately. Nathang is 35 km from the site of the two-month old standoff between Indian and Chinese troops.

It was not immediately clear if the order had been issued to accommodate thousands of soldiers of the 33 Corp who are reportedly moving from Sukna towards Doklam or whether it was a precautionary measure to avoid civilian casualties in case of a skirmish.

Villagers of Nathang, a small village with just a few hundred inhabitants, whom News18 spoke to, confirmed witnessing heavy troop movement in the area of late.

While the Army officially did not talk about the troop movement, some senior military officers called it an annual exercise that takes place in September, but has been advanced this year.

According to some reports, the Indian Army has called the troop movement in the area a regular maintenance move. The reports went on to quote army sources as saying that the military is in a 'no war, no peace' mode.

This, in military parlance, means being in a confrontational position with the enemy.

The state-controlled Chinese media has in the last few weeks been beating war drums quite incessantly. In a recent editorial published in China Daily, India was warned that “the countdown to a clash between the two forces has begun”.

The editorial, titled New Delhi should come to its senses while it has time, went on to state that the window to peacefully resolve the standoff in Doklam was closing as the row enters its seventh week.

“The countdown to a clash between the two forces has begun, and the clock is ticking away the time to what seems to be an inevitable conclusion.”

This is just one of the several vitriolic articles that have appeared in Chinese news agency Xinhua and their newspaper Global Times, in recent past.

The face-off between Indian and Chinese troops though is two months old now.

It started in mid-June in Doklam tri-junction when Indian troops stopped the Chinese army from building a road in the disputed area. China building a road on that site, India feared, would allow Chinese troops to cut India’s access to its northeastern states.

As per China's claims, it was constructing the road within its own territory.

Since the standoff, India has constantly batted for a dialogue but China has demanded immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Indian troops before a dialogue or peace process is initiated.

From Chinese propaganda outlet China Daily:

New Delhi should come to its senses while it has time

chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-08-08 20:29

As the standoff in Donglang between Chinese and Indian border troops enters its seventh week, the window for a peaceful solution is closing.

The countdown to a clash between the two forces has begun, and the clock is ticking away the time to what seems to be an inevitable conclusion.

But it doesn't have to be so. Beijing has time and again sent the message that to avoid conflict all India needs to do is withdraw all its troops from an area that based on historical treaties, historically expressed agreements and long-exercised control both have long agreed is Chinese territory.

The Ministry of Defense has warned India not to harbor any illusions and underestimate the resolve of the People's Liberation Army to defend China's sovereignty and territorial integrity. There is a "bottom line" to the restraint shown by China to India's trespass, as a ministry spokesman said.

Anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear will have got the message. Yet New Delhi refuses to come to its senses and pull its troops back to its own side of the border.

Different from the previous standoffs that happened at parts of the border contested by both countries, the military deployment by India this time, which even in its own words is on foreign soil — India says Donglang is territory disputed by China and Bhutan — has sabotaged long-standing agreements and understandings the two sides have worked hard to build over the years.

India's justifications for this — its own security concerns and its support for Bhutan — do not stand up to scrutiny, as made clear by the position paper released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, and do not excuse its illegal act.

India's audacity in challenging China's sovereignty may come from its own sense of inferiority and insecurity in the face of China's rapid rise to prominence in the region, but betting on Beijing backing away from a fight because of its desire for a peaceful neighborhood is a risk, as it ignores the fact that the foundation for that is countries respecting China's territorial integrity.

India's trespassing is changing the long and legally established status quo in the area and is thus an act that China has no option but to resist.

Yet being at loggerheads serves neither side any good, and a violent clash is still avoidable, even at this late stage.

He who stirs up trouble should end it, as a Chinese proverb goes. India should withdraw its troops while the clock is still ticking. It will only have itself to blame if its stubborn refusal to heed the voice of reason leads to consequences it regrets.

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