In a change in its strategy towards a hostile and expansionist China, the Indian Army will henceforth adhere to a different set of rules of engagement on the Line of Actual Control.
The new rules would allow field commanders to order troops to use firearms under "extraordinary" circumstances;
until now the troops were bound by ‘agreements’ with the Chinese which expected them to show utmost restraint even in a violent standoff and prevented them from using fire arms within two km of the LAC.
The death of 20 Indian soldiers, including the commanding officer, the resurfacing of Sino-Indian border conflict and Chinese muscle flexing at multiple points has forced a relook at the strategic responses. In keeping with this new mind set, sources said the armed forces deployed along the 3,500-km de facto border have been given "full freedom" to give a "befitting" response to any Chinese misadventure.
An indication about the recalibration of the response strategy came after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the situation in eastern Ladakh at a meeting with the top military brass on Sunday. In the discussion at his residence, Singh reportedly asked the CDS and the three service chiefs to be "fully prepared" to take any unprecedented action as per the situation on the Line of Actual Control.
Rajnath’s meeting came on the heels of India's strong rejection of China's claim of sovereignty over Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, has been emphatic that the Army has been given full freedom to deal with the situation on the ground.
The incident on June 15 happened when the Chinese army used force to browbeat the Indian personnel who had asked them to move away. Chinese soldiers were clearly trained to attack and kill the opponents with specially forged personal weapons used in hand-to-hand combat. They obviously had instructions not to move back and to take advantage of the situation where the patrols by convention did not use firearms. (According to defence expert D C Pathak, the flashpoints created by China on LAC were primarily meant to enable it to stay put in Galwan valley apparently by using the 'two steps forward one step backward' doctrine -- significantly, this was also a hotspot in the 1962 Sino-Indian military conflict.)
The two armies had mutually decided not to resort to use firearms during face-offs in sync with provisions of two agreements on border management. The agreements were signed in 1996 and 2005. The Indian side is expected to discuss the issue with the Chinese Army during forthcoming commander-level talks.
The IAF has already moved a sizeable number of its frontline Sukhoi 30 MKI, Jaguar, Mirage 2000 aircraft and Apache attack helicopters to several key air bases, including Leh and Srinagar, in the last five days.
Rajnath Singh's review of the situation in eastern Ladakh came a day before he embarks on a three-day visit to Russia to attend a grand military parade in Moscow to mark the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Germany in the Second World War.
