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July 18, 2013

India’s new Mountain Strike Corps to deploy 40,000 additional troop on Indo-Tibetan border

Dharamshala, July 18: The Indian government has given the go ahead for raising a Mountain Strike Corps, the much-awaited expansion which will equip the Indian armed forces to ‘move from the current stage of dissuasion to deterrence against China.’

The Cabinet Committee on Security headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cleared the proposal in its meeting on Wednesday.

Army chief Gen Bikram Singh and IAF chief Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne were also present at the Prime Minister's Office during the meeting which was attended by defence minister AK Antony, external affairs minister Salman Khurshid and finance minister P Chidambaram.

The formation will see the deployment of 40,000 additional soldiers along the Indo-Tibetan border to counter China's military strength and will cost the exchequer Rs. 64,000 crore.

The Strike Corps will be headquartered at Panagarh in West Bengal along with two divisions in Bihar and Assam and other units from Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh.

The Strike Corps will have an independent armoured brigade, an artillery brigade with the Indian Air Force deploying its newly-acquired medium lift C-130 J Hercules Transport Aircraft designed for aiding special operations.

India has three Strike Corps, based in Mathura, Ambala, and Bhopal with all of them are ranged against Pakistan and equipped for desert and plains warfare.

India and China occupied Tibet share a 3488 km long disputed border which was the cause of a short but bloody war in 1962. Since then, the two Asian giants have shared uneasy military ties with a series of border talks failing to yield much result.

The decision comes on the heels of a border stand-off in April this year, when a Chinese platoon had entered and set up camp about 19 km into Indian territory in the Depsang Valley and had refused to budge for about three weeks despite repeated requests from India.

After a 21-day face-off during which there were intense negotiations amid increasing tension, China agreed to withdraw its platoon. In return, India agreed to dismantle seven bunkers that it was building in the Chumar sector.

India has recorded well over 600 "transgressions" by PLA troops across the LAC - from Arunachal Pradesh to Ladakh - in the last three years, including the latest in June.

China has about five fully-operational airbases, a well laid down rail network and over 58,000- km of roads along the Indian border, which enable it to move over 30 divisions (each with over 15,000 soldiers) to the LAC, outnumbering the Indian forces.