The dragon cometh … Slowly

Spend a few days along the Sino-India border and you will experience the palpable tension that is mounting along the LAC. Remember, China is no Pakistan that brazenly intruded into Kirgil, instead the dragon is moving slowly, stealthily – nibbling away at Indian territory while the government proclaims that all is well.

The first thing that we noticed in Leh was the eerie silence there, (and I am not talking about spiritual silence @ 11,000 feet, kind of thing) the silence of the official machinery on China was baffling. Chinese incursions into India were making national headlines – but Ajit Kumar Sahu the Deputy Commissioner of Leh assured me that some ‘isolated instances were being blown out of proportion by the media’. But if that was the case – why did the same Mr. Sahu shoot off a letter to the government, confirming repeated incursions by the Chinese? Why was it that the man who had blown the whistle on the Chinese incursions had suddenly become so nonchalant???

Within twenty-four hours of us landing in Leh one thing was clear– there was an unofficial gag order in circulation – over any mention of the border dispute. After initial news of Chinese incursions and rock paintings leaked out from the Ladakh sector – the local administration had surely been censured. When our cameras weren’t even allowed in the offices of the Deputy Commissioner, SSP and the ITBP – we knew that something was amiss. The only option for us then was to see for ourselves what was happening along the Sino-India border.

Pangong Tso (Tso: Ladakhi for lake) would have been a tourist haven had it not been geographically situated along an intensely disputed territory. At an astounding altitude of 13,900 ft, the 134 km long lake extends from India to China along the Line of Actual Control, 60% of the length of the lake is controlled by China – the rest is with India. The six hours that it took us to reach Pangong from Leh explained the need for India to accelerate its border highway project. While China has built double width paved roads, right upto the border – we are still to make all weather roads even between major transit points. As our car pitched and rolled on unpaved roads we saw something more astounding along our way… hundreds of army trucks were moving to and fro from the advanced border posts – old military bases being spruced up and new military check posts being set up – even filed guns had been positioned at specific locations, their barrels pointing towards China. (see pic) So even as SM Krishna was reassuring the nation that the border with China was ‘most peaceful’ the army was taking no chances, ensuring that another Kargil does not happen. (China sure does have the inclination and the military might to embark on such an adventure)

We stopped for tea at Changla Pass (the world’s third – highest pass) and here our ‘papers’ were checked. (An Inner Line Permit is required, even for Indians, to visit the lake as it lies on the Sino-Indian Line of Actual Control) When we quizzed a jawan about the heavy deployment of men and machines at the border with China, we got a standard monosyllabic answer, ‘Exercise’

It was late in the noon when we finally made it to the Pangong Lake, the breathtaking views aside – you realize the strategic importance of the lake – for you can see Chinese territory from here. It was a chance meeting with (Retd.) Company Major Hawaldar Wanchoo here – that proved to be an eye opener. A veteran of the Kargil war, Wanchoo quit the Indian Army in 2000 to start is own little resort. But the locals still flock to him and tell him what they have spotted on the Chinese side.

The government of Jammu and Kashmir has admitted to it only now, but the locals have been telling Wanchoo for months, that the Chinese have been nibbling away at Indian territory – inch by inch and not by yards. First the shepherds are shooed away (sometimes harassed) when they take their sheep out to graze along the border…then Chinese troops indulge in ‘aggressive patrolling’ and finally China quietly constructs permanent structures in otherwise

disputed/Indian territory. Along the Pangong lake itself – the Chinese enter Indian territory as many as five times a week! Not only that – the so called ‘no man’s land’ between the two nations has virtually disappeared with the Chinese walking right upto the Indian observation posts.

So is the media crying horse over nothing? Empirical data suggests that we better tighten our belts, pull up our socks and wear our reading glasses to understand the new ‘great game’ that is afoot.

FACT – China wants to keep India engaged in talks, even as it continues to build military pressure in the area. Talks have been going on for three decades –with no breakthrough, is proof enough

FACT – China is consolidating its national power (with special focus on Tibet region), once that is done, expect more pressure on the LAC with India

FACT – the military muscle mismatch between the two countries is wide and is increasing day by day … China and NOT Pakistan is a more potent threat

FACT – Long before we lost Askai Chin in ’62 – there had been reports of Chinese activity in the area…from ’57 onwards India chose to ignore the clear signals of Chinese aggression.

Whatever the Foreign Minister or the Army says – these are historical facts that can’t be dismissed; facts that point out that China is again eying Indian Territory (even though they are moving forward at a glacial pace). The question is – will India stand around like a dinosaur or respond to the climatic change – for even a class five student will tell you that failure to adapt to the changing situation – can result in annihilation.

YSR’s Copter Crash: The Inside Story

Even days after the crash, the ELT on the CM’s chopper remains missing. Why? Because the locals may have just walked away with it as a souvenir, this even as the forces were busy clicking pictures of themselves in front of the mangled chopper. The crash site had become a tourist spot.

It was as if all of Andhra Pradesh had converged at the Idupulapaya estate; YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s favourite retreat and sadly his final resting place, a befitting (though chaotic) farewell that reaffirmed the popularity of the former CM and the diehard following that he had. But even as the human tsunami that hit Reddy’s funeral receded, people had one burning question in their minds – What/Who caused the death of their beloved Chief Minister? From the roadside tea stalls to the drawing rooms of the rich and powerful – that’s the one consuming question in Andhra Pradesh. From Naxals who shot down the chopper to political rivals who murdered YSR to natural causes, no conspiracy theory is being discounted.

Now a full fledged inquiry has been ordered into the crash, the DGCA is taking the matter ‘seriously’ and even representatives of Bell Helicopters have been roped in to ascertain the cause of the crash. However there is slim chance that this belated action would yield any tangible results. The reason for that is the government did not even follow the very basic rules of crash site investigations, failing to cordon off the site, allowing ‘souvenir hunters’ a free run and trampling over hundreds of pieces of helicopter debris that was strewn over a 500 meter radius. The Chief Minister’s helicopter had crashed in the most inaccessible of places – and yet even as the elite Greyhounds looked on, the crash site became a tourist spot.

3^rd September – 8.00am: It was close to twenty-four that the CM’s helicopter had disappeared. We had air dashed from New Delhi the previous evening and driven all night to reach Rollapenta (74 kilometres east of Kurnool) which had been the last contact point for the CM’s helicopter. But soon we got word that YSR’s copter had indeed crashed in the core forest area of Nallamala (near Atmakur)

10.00am: With no motorable road to speak of – it was a combination of SUV’s, tractors and walking that brought is close to ‘Pavurala Konda’ (Doves Hill) where the copter had crashed. Not long ago this was the area where the Naxal ruled – and for good reason; no mobile or road connectivity, undergrowth so think that you could not see beyond five feet, an area so remote that even the GPS gave up on us.

1.00pm: Hours later the fifty member search party had thinned down to a dozen and with no GPS data – we were just roaming aimlessly. By now all the five bodies had been extricated from the mangled remains of the helicopter and airlifted to Kurnool and we thought it best to retreat from the area before the light faded. But even as we were returning dejected, we came across a team of the Greyhounds, the elite anti-naxal force that knew the Nallamala jungle like the back of their hands. Since the Greyhounds were headed for the crash site we tagged along… another ten kilometres of steep rocky terrain and we finally managed to reach the crash site.

4.00pm: We were the first journalists to make it to the crash site and my cameraperson Manhoar Reddy was worried that we may not be allowed to shoot at the crash site. But what we witnessed next was most startling. After airlifting the bodies – the government had virtually abandoned the site, even as the Greyhounds and the CRPF men lounged around – local villagers and tribals walked all over the crash site. Picking up stuff and kicking pieces of metal. Far from cordoning off the area – people were allowed to pick up pieces of the helicopter and walk away. More than twenty hour hours after the crash there was the reeking smell of Aviation Fuel and burnt human skin. It was as if the helicopter had rammed into the hill at full speed – then rolled upwards – before exploding in a fireball, YSR would have had very little or no time to react. With two hours worth of fuel in its tanks – the Bell 430 must have created quite an explosion the remote jungles of Nallamala. That’s why the Emergency Location

Transmitter (or ELT) might not have worked – the force of the impact and the ensuing fire may have reduced it to a heap of metal and as for the Cockpit Voice Recorder (or CVR) not much will come from it. Even if the CVR has not been damaged with people walking over it – it will only replay the voice of the pilot and not the aeronautical data of the helicopter (like a full fledged black box that stores data like speed – altitude – engine performance) Going by the way the helicopter slammed into the hill – even the pilot might not have had time to realise that he was flying so low that he slammed into a hill.

5.00pm: Before I left the crash site, a local pointed out a dismembered leg to me, clear indication that the commandoes who had airlifted the bodies had done a shoddy job out of it. We had arrived at the crash site just hours after it was identified from air – it’s impossible that the experts had conducted a survey of the area before we came – and by the time we left the crowds were swelling, curious locals thronging the area for a quick dekko. The YSR’s crash site had become a public spectacle.

4^th September – 2.00am: After more than 24 hours on the road (with forty kilometres of walking in the jungles) we were back in Kurnool feeding visuals of the crash site to the newsroom. But even before the questions about the crash/sabotage could be raised the next morning – our tired souls knew the answer. With this kind of ham handed investigations into the crash – YSR’s death will remain just another unsolved air crash. It’s only in India that even a Chief Minister’s death does not merit a proper scientific investigation. Surely the king of Cuddapah deserved better.