Pak-China collusive intimidation
By: Cecil Victor
New Delhi—Asia Defence News International (ADNI)

That August to October is a season of madness marked by the Chinese attack on India in 1962 and the mindless Pakistani attempt in 1965 to capture the rest of Jammu and Kashmir by using troops disguised as tribals as it did in 1947 is accentuated by the current spurt of hostilities in both J and K and along the Sino-Indian border. This time there appears to be a coordinated attempt by Beijing and Islamabad to intimidate India, If the turn of events leads to open hostilities India must chose the time and place most advantageous to its own troops rather than be rushed into an unequal contest. Common intent is seen in the first breach of the ceasefire along the Line of Control by Pakistani troops in a long time. It coincides with the aggressive posturing by China in Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and, more recently, in the Aksai Chin flatlands of Ladakh and a recrudescence of infiltration by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. Clearly Islamabad does not want to go any further down the road as demanded by Washington in its campaign against the Taliban. The killing of Baitullah Mehsud with a US drone aircraft and accusations that Pakistan did not take advantage of the disarray that overtook the terrorist organization are other indicators that Pakistan wants a way out of having to fight the very terrorism that it helped nurture in the decades since the occupation of Afghanistan by Soviet troops. Heavy shooting along the Line of Control could help it shed its commitments to the US. Aware of the gameplan India has kept a low profile so as not to give Pakistan the excuse it is seeking. The Chinese would want the infiltators to succeed but for that to happen Indian attention will have to be divered from the LoC. That is why the Aksai Chin sector has been reactivated and the painting with red letters on rocks is intended to send to the terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir the message that China is taking a hand in the proceedings. The Chinese series of provocative actions along the Line of Actual Control in the Himalayas is intended to prevent a diversion of well acclimatized troops Indian from the India-China border to the India-Pakistan area of confrontation. India is aware of this collusive intent and has already implemented plans to raise two brigades of infantry to bolster its presence against China. But it needs to trace its steps carefully lest Beijing, as it did in 1962 after Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru that Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai was being used by China to assert territorial control and it launched its massive attack. Nehru’s order came to be known as the “Forward Policy” of deployment of Indian troops and police along its claim lines. Beijing used this to its diplomatic advantage by projecting India as the aggressor. Indian military deployment in the Himalayas is far superior to what it was in 1960s as the Chinese discovered at Nathu La when it tried to get ratty after that.However there is needs to tread softly and diplomatically without walking into a trap of confrontation that Beijing is trying to provoke. Nonetheless, given the heady nature of the season at this time of the year, India should be prepared for aggressive action by its neighbours. This time it is happening in unison with malice aforethought. The signal for it was given when Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Kiyani visited Beijing and since then there has been a slow but steady escalation of tension India and her two neighbours. Calls for talks by Pakistan and China are subterfuges and camouflage for their joint intention of destabilizing India using a combination of terrorist and conventional military tactics.For both of them the jehadi terrorist organizatios tht constitute the United Jehad Council are the bedrock of their geopolitics in which Pakistan is the vanguard and the terrorists are their proxies. It is not for nothing that Beijing has invested so much in terms of nuclear weapons and the missiles for delivering them. Pakistan’s nuclear weapons capability is the shield from behind which the terrorist spear is hurled. It is not for nothing that at every occasion Pakistan should harp on its being a nuclear weapons power and that military confrontation could, very quickly, erupt into a nuclear exchange. It is baldfaced nuclear coersion particularly since it is the overtly stated policy of Pakistan to use nuclear weapons at short notice. For China, Pakistan is the last outpost in its policy of creating a “string of pearls” -- its euphemism for a series of military focal points for power projection the North Arabian Sea. It is no accident that the string encircles India like a garrotte intended to strangle it.