Indian army enters Tibet, to celebrate not fight

Dance, bonhomie, liquor, exchange of currency replaced guns on the roof of the world as the Indian Army, in a historical move, crossed the border to Tibet in China to celebrate the 57th Chinese national day.

There was no sign of a weapon, as 200 odd Indian and Chinese officers, jawans, civilians and media persons mingled freely and spent a day with dance, bonhomie and excellent Chinese food in the bitter windy cold 15,500-feet plains overlooking the huge Himalayas.

There is 'absolute peace on the border,' Indian troops say.

India and China fought a bloody war and followed it with 40 years of tension, but things are a little more relaxed for troops of the two countries on their Himalayan border now.

"Today, the soldiers of both the countries are jokingly fighting over currency notes, anything exchangeable from biscuits to chocolates," said Brigadier Sanjay Kulkarni, the head of the Indian delegation.

Back in 1962 it was here, in the Tawang-Bumla area, where the Chinese army broke through Indian defence and reached all the way to Bomdilla. The rest is history.

The Indians now attend the Chinese national day celebrations at their border posts on October 1 and the Chinese reciprocate on Indian Independence Day on August 15. Cultural troupes join celebrations of national days.

"I did not see the war or the tension that persisted for almost four decades after it, but now the mood is clearly one of friendship," says Brig Kulkarni.

As one climbs into Bumla, a board warns the visitor -- 'You are now under enemy observation.' The army officer accompanying our vehicle keeps referring to Chinese positions across the border as 'enemy locations.'

But such language is only a reminder of the past history of border tensions that nearly brought Indian and Chinese armies to the brink of war on two occasions after the 1962 war.

Gone are the days of aggressive patrolling and 'area domination' tactics that both armies resorted to in the four decades after the 1962 war. The Chinese delegation was led by Sr Col Yang Yunfu. The delegation had a closed-door border meeting also with the Indian counterpart.

The visit by the Indian delegation follows a similar gesture shown by the People's Liberation Army of China, who attended India's Independence Day celebrations on August 15 at the Bumla Pass Indian border post.

Brigadier Kulkarni said, "This was a reciprocal gesture and a part of our confidence-building process along the Line of Actual Control."

"Neither Chinese nor Indian troops are talking of hostilities any more. Our relations are improving and there is no question of a war," said Senior Colonel Yang as he supervised the celebrations at Nagdoh.

"China and India will be friends forever," Brigadier Kulkari said, adding, "Since we started confidence-building exercises, tensions have eased on what once was a very sensitive frontier."

Violations of each other's territory and incursions by patrols have come down sharply. We have little to complain about each other these days. The Chinese have the big Lee camp, about 15 km from the border. Bumla is no longer the theatre of war but only of peace.

Wangdung was one area where the Indians responded in strength in 1986-87 during 'Operation Chequerboard,' as the Indian response to the Chinese move forward was christened. War monuments are the sole signs of past conflicts. In that area now, Chinese and Indian troops play an occasional game of volleyball and score points with light banter rather than with guns.

An army source said the border had become so peaceful, that Indian military formations have been able to deploy much of their strength to fight insurgencies in Northeast Indian states like Assam.

But as India and China push ahead with negotiations to find a durable settlement of their border problem and their armies scale down tension on the frontier, the war memorials on either side of the border are the only reminder to the years of conflict gone by.