Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said in Parliament that China, as of now, has illegally occupied around 38000 sq km of land in Ladakh, is in possession of 5,180 sq km Indian territory in PoK and is claiming around 90000 sq km of territory in Arunachal Pradesh. Numerically, it comes out that territorial integrity of 43,180 sq km has already been sacrificed to China and 90000 sq km more are in the waiting. For any citizen, this statistics, besides bringing concern, will also arouse a sense of disgust over the cumulative failure of government(s) at the Centre over the last seven decades during which such losses happened. And for any Arunachalee, after the ‘admission’ made by none other than Defence Minister himself, there will be a renewed sense of insecurity that their state might be up for grabs anytime. It has been assured many a time by the ruling dispensation at the Centre that the country’s territorial status quo will never be allowed to get diluted. These words now need to be translated into deeds which can be done through initiation of two processes- that of placing the claim emphatically to China to return the occupied areas and to issue a further strong reminder to give off the ‘Arunachal is South Tibet’ dream.

It had been totally impossible to understand China all throughout the preceding decades and that the neighbour has changed little is evident from the startling revelation as reported in press that even when high-level diplomatic talks were going on in Moscow, exchange of bullets were simultaneously going on at the north bank of Pangong Tso, a much-troubled point across the LAC. This ‘behaviour’ which starkly violates and dishonours all established norms of bilateral civility will reinforce the belief that all the so-called parleys meant for restoration of normalcy are mere eye-wash and China’s real goal is ‘poaching’ of Indian lands.

Coming to the current standoff, it’s observable that the communication pattern adopted by the government while disseminating ‘reasonable information’ over the issue has been marked with non-transparency which is not ideal in a democratic set-up and this has been alleged by the opposition too. After Tuesday’s elaboration in LS, it’s at least clear the situation is really tense. But further open deliberations are still needed and it’s a welcoming sign that Wednesday’s all-party parliamentary meeting has decided that Defence Minister will take a couple of questions after briefing the RS on Indo-China standoff.

Central government must assure the nation that there will be serious efforts for full restoration of the territorial status quo over the entire border with China. Arunachal Pradesh will also be looking forward to a similar assurance that the perceived threat looming large over its horizon will be nullified at any cost.