6 Army Divisions shifted to tackle China threat

In his recent visit to the Ladakh sector, Army chief General Manoj Pande reviewed the security situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in view of the Chinese threat for which the Indian Army has shifted six Divisions which were earlier deployed in counter-terrorism roles and after taking care of Pakistan front.

The military standoff with China has been going on for over two years now when the Chinese side attempted to change the status quo unilaterally by moving troops in large numbers against Indian positions.

The Indian Army has been doing rebalancing and realignment of its forces which were earlier more prepared for the Pakistan threat than the challenges faced from the Northern borders.

Senior government sources told ANI that after this rebalancing and realignment exercise was done over the last two years, two divisions (around 35,000 troops) have been feeding up from counter-terrorism roles for looking after the China border deployment.

One division from Rashtriya Rifles was taken out from counter-terrorism roles from Jammu and Kashmir and has now been deployed in the Eastern Ladakh sector and would be there along with the 3 Division already based there, they said.

Likewise, an Assam-based Division under the Tezpur-based Gajaraj Corps has been pulled out of its counter-insurgency role from the state and now its mandate is to look after the China border in the northeast, they said.

With the deduction of this formation, there is no Army unit now involved in counter-terrorism operations in the state of Assam, the sources said.

The 17 Mountain Strike Corps which earlier had tasks in the Ladakh sector also has now been confined to the Northeast only and has been given one more Division based out of Jharkhand.

The division earlier was tasked to carry out strike operations along the Western front.

Two Army Divisions located in Uttar Pradesh have also now been assigned to the Northern Command for Ladakh theatre.

The two formations were earlier tasked to fight on the Western front in case of a war, they said.

Similarly, a Uttarakhand-based Division of a Strike Corps has been reassigned to the Central Command to look after the entire Central sector where the Chinese have been attempting transgressions on multiple occasions, they said.

Sources said that the rebalancing has resulted in the deployment of two of the four Strike Corps in the Army with offensive elements on the China border whereas prior to April-May, 2022, three of them looked after Pakistan prominently, they said.

The heavy deployment by India has also sent across a message to the Chinese military that any misadventure to attempt altering the status quo on the LAC would not be possible, they said.

After the Chinese Army deployed on the Indian borders in heavy numbers, India also rushed in troops in the same manner and sent around 50,000 troops there.