Over the last month, news flashed across the media even though intermittently, made it amply clear that there is definitely a standoff between India and China at the boundary in eastern Ladakh which has escalated the tension. But that which has made the issue remarkably different from the usual Chinese incursion attempts is the continuity of the dispute which is more than a month old by now and the lack of reasonable openness over what is actually going on at the troubled zones. For a common citizen, there are obvious reasons to get confused since conflicting news have appeared over the last five days which point both ways- de-escalation of tension and again a flare up within a very short time, which is quite unthinkable based on logical reasoning. Perceptibly, there is an increasing clamour that to weed out this blurriness, government should share more details over the public domain, of course meaningfully within the parameters that wouldn’t compromise the country’s security secrecy norms.
A major and well-known news agency which covers South Asia on Tuesday, citing “government sources” claimed that Indian and Chinese troops had disengaged at three locations in Ladakh and China had even withdrawn its troops. A day later, again quoting “government sources” it reported that the Chinese military has done military build-up including troops and heavy weaponry not only in Ladakh but also in other forward locations including Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and wherever it shares borders with India. Interestingly, the report has claimed that India in response, had increased its troops along the disputed 3,488km Indo-China border. It needs no mentioning that such ‘claims’ will continue unabated until an official confirmation is delivered. 
But, reading the Chinese body language it must be largely clear by now that the current case, in gravity and future consequences, will be much troubling for India than the 2017 Doklam standoff. Indian government is also fully aware of it and perhaps exactly due to that, on Friday, Defence Minister held a meeting with the Chief of Defence Staff General and the services chiefs to review the situation, the second within a span of three days.
China is a formidable foe and it has proved that on several past occasions. This time it seems that it has made a comprehensive ‘homework’ and although bilateral talks are reportedly to be underway with ‘success’ thereto, judging the trends, the eerie inkling that the sovereignty of the nation is once more at stake, will be hard to suppress.
To negate the growing public confusion, the demand for more clarity from the higher echelons of the government will not sound illegitimate. Deafening silence over an issue critical as this doesn’t fit to the ethos of a democracy.

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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