OPEN ACCESS Freely available online Journal of Political Sciences & Public Affairs

Editorial 1962 Sino-Indian Conflict : Battle of Eastern Ladakh Agnivesh kumar* Department of Sociology, University of Mumbai, Mumbai, India. E-mail: [email protected]

EDITORIAL protests. Later they also constructed a road from Lanak La to Kongka Pass. In the north, they had built another road, west of the Aksai Sino-Indian conflict of 1962 in Eastern Ladakh was fought in the area Chin Highway, from the Northern border to Qizil Jilga, Sumdo, between Karakoram Pass in the North to Demchok in the South East. Samzungling and Kongka Pass. The area under territorial dispute at that time was only the Aksai Chin plateau in the north east corner of Ladakh through which the Chinese In the period between 1960 and October 1962, as tension increased had constructed Western Highway linking Xinjiang Province to Lhasa. on the border, the Chinese inducted fresh troops in occupied Ladakh. The Chinese aim of initially claiming territory right upto the line – Unconfirmed reports also spoke of the presence of some tanks in Daulat Beg Oldi (DBO) – Track Junction and thereafter capturing it general area of Rudok. The Chinese during this period also improved in October 1962 War was to provide depth to the Western Highway. their road communications further and even the posts opposite DBO were connected by road. The Chinese also had ample animal In Galwan – Chang Chenmo Sector, the Chinese claim line was transport based on local yaks and mules for maintenance. The horses cleverly drawn to include passes and crest line so that they have were primarily for reconnaissance parties. At the time of conflict in complete observation and domination of our defences and at the same October 1962, the Chinese enjoyed a 3:1 superiority in infantry, and time denying the same to us. In Chushul Sector also, the Chinese aim also advantage in artillery. The road communication network on their remained the same. side gave them a further advantage, as they could deploy their troops Geography of Eastern Ladakh and specially artillery, opposite Indian posts at will. By July 1962, the Chinese had inducted a complete division in Ladakh. The geography divides the Ladakh front into various sectors. The Northern most part is DBO, a very small out post on the traditional Geography and General Dispositions Silk route that eventually crossed over the Karakoram Pass into the South of Chang Chenmo valley running north west to south east Chinese province of Xinjiang. To the South of DBO is the Chang is the continuation of Karakoram Range, with heights over 6,000 Chenmo – Galwan Valley sector. Phobrang was the support base for metres. The mountains end on the shores of Pangong Tso lake. This is this Sector. Next came Chushul Sector that extended from Sirijap a long lake with crystal clear but undrinkable brackish water. The lake complex north of Pangong Tso lake upto Rezang La, south of the lake. is over one kilometre wide and very deep. It freezes in winter and even The southern most sector in Ladakh was the Indus Valley Sector that vehicular movement over the frozen ice is possible. In the afternoon extended from Dungti to Demchok. strong winds give rise to high waves, making it difficult to cross. On Except for Chushul and Indus Valley Sector on the Indian side, there the southern bank of the lake there are high broken mountains that was no lateral communication available. The fighting, therefore, was slope south to Spanggur lake. West of this lake there exists a clear perforce isolated and unconnected with other sectors. The events of gap between the mountains called the Spanggur Gap. It is nearly two 1962 can thus be conveniently dealt with by sectors. kilometres wide and joins the Chushul plateau with the main Tibetan plateau to the east. To the west of Spanggur Gap lies the village of Chinese Forces Chushul. Between Chushul village and Spanggur was located the By the end of 1959, the Chinese had spread to the west and south of Chushul airfield. By October 1962, through efforts of army engineers, the Aksai Chin road and established new posts disregarding Indian this was capable of taking AN-12 and Packet aircraft.

Correspondence to: Agnivesh Kumar, Department of Sociology, University of Mumbai, Mumbai, India. E-mail: [email protected] Received: March 18, 2021; Accepted: April 01, 2021; Published: April 08, 2021 Citation: Kumar A (2021). First Indian Prime Minister without an Aristocratic Past. J Pol Sci Pub Aff, Open Access. 9:391 Copyright: © 2021 Kumar A. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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