New Delhi: Just a day ahead of 21st Kargil Vijay Diwas, celebrated on July 26 to commemorate the success of Operation Vijay in Kargil, the border fight between India and China too saw some significant developments — adding to the list of India’s military and diplomatic prowess.
After days of deployment and tensions at the Galwan, complete disengagement from three patrolling sites was reported.
Defence experts saw the shadow of Kargil in Galwan. The violent clashes between the Indian and the Chinese soldiers in the Galwan Valley on June 15 in which 20 Indian Army personnel were killed could not be compared with the Kargil war with Pakistan in which 500 Indian soldiers were killed. But Galwan was the first major border clash after Kargil and there were lessons that could have been learnt from Kargil — to avert Galwan, defence experts feel.
Questions have been raised whether Galwan was another instance of India’s intelligence failure as it was proved in case of Kargil. The tension was brewing in Galwan since March.
“It was in the first week of May (1999) when 3 Infantry Division received information of an intrusion in the Batalik sector. Later on, it was detected that the intrusion had taken place over a very wide front,” Lieutenant General Mohinder Puri (retired), who had headed the 8 Mountain Division during Operation Vijay, had said earlier.
Galwan too happened suddenly and caught India unawares. Colonel Sonam (retired) Wangchuk, who received the second-highest gallantry award for leading a column of the Ladakh Scouts unit at the Chorbat La Pass during the Kargil War of 1999, said Chinese should never be trusted. “They keep on changing their stance to cater to their long term vision and often catch you unawares,” he said.
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