CORRUPTION IN CHINA

AUM
CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY HUNTS CORRUPT CADRES
By Brigadier(Retd) Chitranjan Sawant,VSM
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely It was true in the past, it is true in the present and it will be true in the future too. One needs no Yudhishthir in the Dronacharya’s Gurukul to memorise and practise this emphasis on the Truth. The sociologists and political science scholars know it but fee helpless in eradicating corruption from the powerful ruling party and the govt run by the party. In China the problem assumes a larger than life image because there is no opposition party to point out cases of corruption. The constitution of the People’s Republic of China lays down that there will be just one political party in the country and it is the Chinese Communist Party.
SELF POLICING SELF CLEANSING
The Chinese Communist Party has an overwhelmingly large membership and its cadres assume power and are backed by the State. It is, therefore, necessary for the party hierarchy to ensure Equality before Law and Integrity from the top echelon to the grass roots. Since an average villager, a farmer or an artisan comes in contact with the Communist officials running the show at the village or district level, it is important that they be given clean and impartial administration. If an official or a cadre member seems to be getting rich overnight, he or she has to be probed and action taken as per law.
Hu Jintao is the President and Head of State of China. Besides that and what is more important is his position as the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. He said at the 90th founding day of the Chinese Communist Party that the Party will intensify its efforts to combat corruption which is crucial in gaining popular support for the party and ensuring its very survival. “If not effectively curbed, corruption will cost the Party the trust and support of the people” Hu Jintao added.
It is a good idea to share the experiences of the party officials chosen to check corruption at the village level. The discipline watchdogs of the CPC are hated and feared by the corrupt officials. The discipline watchdogs are a driving force in ridding the party of graft, official abuse and corruption of sorts. Tian Zhirong is one of the crusaders against corruption. He took his work seriously and achieved good results. He earned a promotion to the post of party chief of Fengzhuang town in Shaanxi province. He records that when he visited places affected by corruption and recorded evidence impartially, some unsocial elements threw stones into his room to frighten him. The goons of the corrupt used to browbeat his wife when she was alone cooking in the kitchen. At times she urged him not torub the corrupt powerful and remain out of harm’s way but he went ahead and discharged his duties without fear or favour.
His salary is Renminbi 3,000 per month. Once while investigating a case of corruption, the affected official quietly slipped 2,000 Yuan into his room. A lot of money indeed. Tian Zhirong deposited the amount in public accounts and gave his findings unaffected by the attempted bribery.
Tian observed that the biggest challenge for a discipline supervisor is Conquering Himself.
Pooling together experiences of discipline watchdogs one finds that the corrupt officials entertain the high visiting officials in every possible way. Wine and dinner plus looking after the creature comforts of the visiting dignitary has now become a tradition that needs tobe erased from the book of hospitality. The honest Inspecting Teams prefer to dine in the community kitchen where alcohol is prohibited. They just spend 20 yuans on a meal and save the public money. The conduct of this nature inspires confidence among the complainant and he expects justice to be done and the corrupt punished.
When and where the discipline supervisors how zero tolerance for corrupt practices the image of the communist party improves One, however, wonders what the ratio of the Honest discipline Watchdogs to the Dishonest ones is. The only way to find out the rea state of affairs is to see if the common man is happy or unhappy. A pertinent observation of honest watchdogs is: As long as influential officials are overwhelmed by Lust and animal passions, corruption will not only exist but flourish. The aim of watchdogs is to minimise cases of corruption as far as possible. They realise that complete eradication may not be feasible under the present circumstances.
ENLIGHTENING STATISTICS
In the year 2010 China investigated 2723 corrupt officials at or above county level that is equivalent to a district in the Indian context. 188 were of the Prefecture level and six at the ministerial level. It is heartening to note that in July this year two deputy mayors of Hangzhou and Suzhou were executed for corruption, read bribery. Xu Maiyong accepted a bribe of 145 million Yuan and also embezzled public money for promoting self interests.
Liu Zhijun, the Minister for Railways was removed from his high post in February this year as he was implicated in corruption and “severe violation” of discipline.
Generally speaking such statistics were not released by China before but they are doing so now to prove to the common man in China that both the Party and the government are serious on curbing corruption and that no one , howsoever high he or she may be, would be spared. Indeed it is a matter of credibility of the Communist Party of China and the leadership is committed to providing a corruption free administration to the citizens of the Middle Kingdom that China was known as in times gone by.
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MARITAL HAPPINESS DEPENDS ON COUPLE

AUM
MARITAL HAPPINESS DEPENDS ON COUPLE
By Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM
The Vedic Vivah or taking marriage vows as per the Vedas, most ancient scripture in the library of Mankind, lays the foundation of a happy married life. The bride and the groom take SEVEN steps together and take a vow with each step. The seventh and the last step vow is: Now after taking nuptial vows WE ARE FRIENDS. SAKHA is the word in Sanskrit language. Friendship is between the equals and when the husband and wife treat each other as Equals, they will never denigrate each other.
When LOVE between the husband and wife recedes or takes a back seat in life, it is time for the THIRD PERSON; male or female to enter into the life of the wedded couple. That indeed is the beginning of the end of a happy married life. The mistress gains ground day by day in the husband’s love life. Or the wife's young lover becomes supreme in the life of the woman. However, it is essential that the THIRD PERSON must be banished as early as possible lest the marriage is on the rocks.
SCHOOL FOR WIFE
When I mentioned to my wife that in China new and expensive schools have been opened to train wives on” How to WIN HUSBAND BACK from the Mistress, oh! she lamented and opined; why not train Husbands how to keep the flame of Love alive in the wife. A husband needs training too. I think my wife has a point. A happy married life is lived by the couple, not by wife alone. Remember the VEDIC vow: we are FRIENDS or Sakha.
Let the new enterpreneurs in China open training schools for husbands on HOW TO WIN WIFE BACK. The booming economy of China has put a lot of money into the hands of male entrepreneurs and among other hobbies and recreations that they pursue, having a mistress is becoming more popuar than what society can digest. It is a scandal that has REACHED A POINT BEYOND WHICH THE MARRIAGE BASED SOCIAL STRUCTURE CANNOT TAKE. The sociologists are keen on finding a solution within the present set up of the social order. It is, however, defying solutions at this point of time.
It is the legacy of Chinese Emperors to have many pretty women in their Harem in the forbidden city. The male population of China that has become very rich with the economic boom now wish to have a Mistress in every city that they visit in connection with business. May I remind Males with Mistresses that history is also full of true stories of Empresses or Dowager Empresses who kept a Male Harem to pick and choose the man to sleep with. And the choice invariably fell on a new fellow to make the dowager empress happy and satisfied in bed. A failure to achieve the desired result cost the unfortunate male his head. The same situation may arise again. History repeats itself.
SEX IN MARRIAGE
It is a matter of human nature that Sex is important in life. In the marital life Sex is more important. Some psychologists believe that marriages are made or unmade in bed. In other words, the husband and wife must keep each other sexually satisfied and happy. Let no partner ignore the other partner.
Companionship heightens Love and Love demands togetherness. When the couple are together, they are bound to sleep in the same bed. Sex is a natural corollary thereafter.
If the husband and wife look after each other and take care of needs mutually the marital life will succeed. Mistress will have no place in the life of a happy couple.
SCRIPTURES ON MARITAL SEX
One may be wondering how deep will the religious injunctions penetrate in marital sex? Well, to fathom the depth, please dive deep and all pearls will be yours. Pearls of Wisdom are there for one who cares to see and find. Let me quote an example from the Satyarth Prakash, the Magnum Opus of the great and renowned socio-religious reformer of the 19th century India. He was so much concerned about the heath, happiness and moral conduct of his countrymen that he devoted all his time and energy to the cause of the country and countrymen and even staked his life for it. Swami Dayanand Saraswati wished the Aryas(Noble men and women) to rise and grow in numbers, in health and in happiness that he prescribed the right way and method of having SAMBHOG or marital sex If the male died and the family wished to have an heir, the Swami recommended the Vedic way to go about it, NIYOG. A good male with intelligence, knowledge and prowess was chosen to have a go at it with the consent of the widow and procreate successfully. This was for the Nation too, without malice or sexual pleasure for the sake of sex. Indeed the Niyog was not popular and invited criticism too. However, the same aim is achieved by many in the society, albeit surreptitiously.
The noble aim of Swami Dayanand Saraswati in writing in depth on the art of copulation in the Satyarth Prakash was to wean away the youth, both boys and girls, from the influence of cheap, dirty and erroneous booklets on sex and lead them to the right path of procreation in a healthy environment. Sex is an important aspect of human life. However, thinking human beings sublimate it and rise above the animal passion and channelize it towards the right goal: to beget a son or a daughter. The great Reformer and inspirer of the Vedic Renaissance was very concerned about the quality of our future generations. He advised the husband and wife to have sex in a manner that the semen of Brahmacharya should be utilised to beget a child and must not be allowed to go waste. A child thus born will be asset to the family and to the Nation.”They (husband and wife) should never waste their reproductive elements perfected and preserved by the practice of Brahmcharya because the children born of the union of such reproductive elements are of a very superior order.”
As discussed heretofore the happiness in marital life depends on the physical, mental and spiritual compatibility of the husband and wife both. The aim of begetting good and smart children cements the marital bond and never lets the couple separate or fall asunder. That is what a Vedic Vivah is all about. Let me wish the bride and the groom health and happiness in their marital life. AUM
UPVAN 609, Sector 29, NOIDA- 201303 INDIA. Mobile – 9811173590
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CHINA OFFERS LOLLIPOPS TO INDIA BUTEMBRACES PAKISTAN

AUM.
CHINA SHOWS INDIA LOLLIPOP EMBRACES PAKISTAN
By Chitranjan Sawant
Chinese PLA and Indian Army are likely to hold joint military exercises towards the end of 2012. Fine. China is holding joint military exercises with Pakistan near Islamabad close to the Indian borders this year in 2011. The scale of the latter is fairly big and that of the former may pale into insignificance unless the Dragon takes corrective measures to offer flowers of friendship to the Elephant. The Chinese troops are already stationed in the Pakistan occupied Kashmir in appreciable numbers. The pretext is to provide relief to the quake-hit region but in reality it is to augment the Pakistan's defences and make a quick deployment of Chinese land forces across Pakistan up to the Gwadar port in Baluchistan province. The large size port where some of the biggest ships and tankers may berth, unload and load fresh cargoes is being built by China. There is no such long term cooperation between the two armies favouring India. The Chinese monopoly of building many big ports in different countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka besides Pakistan is seen by strategists as a master military plan of China to encircle India and paralyse her sea power at a short notice
FRIENDS VERSUS ACQUAINTANCES
Let us not be trapped by the Dragon and be taken in for its exhibition of skin-deep acquaintance and lower our guards. A word of caution to the Indian diplomats and politicians will be in order at this point of time. Please do not be carried away by the Chinese smiles and take it as a prelude to a kiss of friendship. It will be a fatal mistake like that of Nehru in 1962 when he was lured by sweet talks of Chou Enlai and lost both troops and territory besides facing ignominy of a humiliating defeat in NEFA, present Arunachal Pradesh.
The Chinese diplomacy at a higher plane is just placating India with a minor military exercise to offset the hurt caused by a major military handshake between Beijing and Islamabad. Both China and Pakistan are on record to say that there all-weather friendship is time tested. They have stood by each other through thick and thin. However, it would be pertinent to recall that in the 1971 India-Pakistan war, Pakistan kept on looking across the Himalayas towards China hoping that the Dragon would breathe fire to browbeat the Elephant but was deeply disappointed when the Dragon kept itself within its international borders. At the same time it would be an ostrich-like thinking that India faces no danger from China when the latter has gifted some military hardware, including fighter jets to Pakistan. Further the whole world knows that detonating an atomic device close on the heels of Indi was beyond the capabilities of Pakistan if China had not helped her beyond limits of proliferation of atomic power for making bombs and instruments of aggression.
On the other hand India neither asked for nor received any military hardware from China. The military parade of China on the occasion of 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China proved to the world that China is no more a sleeping giant as was predicted by Napoleon Bonaparte who had cautioned the global population that the day China wakes up, the world would be sorry. Who knows it better than India, a country with a bad taste in the mouth after suffering a major defeat at the hands of the Chinese in 1962. In the Chinese scheme of global diplomacy and show of military power, India is on the periphery as a nation divided against its own people. By the way, in the said debate that ensued in New Delhi after the Henderson-Brooks report was submitted that Indian troops were ill trained, ill clothed and ill armed when they went into battle.
China and Pakistan never fought a war against each other. The only hitch in developing a strong friendship between China and Pakistan is: Chinese love to eat pork and Pakistanis detest the sight of it. Can a pork eater and a pork hater embrace each other after a sumptuous pork meal consumed with relish by the Chinese guests? One wonders what the outcome would be. And yet the Chinese and Pakistanis are friends because they have a common enemy-India.
INDIA-CHINA MILITARY EXERCISES
How strange but how true that India and China did not hold joint military exercises during Nehru-Chou days of Hindi-Cheeni Bhai-Bhai. The emphasis was on the Panchsheel or Peaceful Co-existence. It was in 2004 that the first bilateral military exercise was held in Kunming, China. The Chinese govt hosted the Indian Army contingents on its soil for the first time that year. India reciprocated in 2008 by holding the Hand-in-Hand exercise, as the war game was named, at Belgaum in 2008. Now in late 2012, perhaps in December it should be held in China. The exact date and place will be decided later. In the intervening years the military contact was frozen after China vetoed grant of Visa to Lt Gen BS Jaswal, the then Army Commander Northern Command for flimsy reason that the General was commanding forces in the so called disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir. There was a thaw in the cold relationship after a delegation of the People’s Liberation Army paid an official visit to India.
Perhaps it would be a little premature to say what the level of the 2012 joint exercises would be. Nevertheless, we should hope that holding a military to military contact between the two countries would be a step forward that would spell peace and tranquillity on the borders and among the troops of both countries standing eye ball to eyeball at many places and mountain passes. The previous two joint military exercises, one at Kunming and the other at Belgaum were just to assure each other that our intentions were pious. That is all; because there was no strategy worth debating or large scale logistics involved to pose a challenge of Himalayan dimensions.
It would be appropriate to hold the joint exercises at a higher level and on a larger scale so that the general officers are set thinking about each other’s strategy and the larger question of maintenance at high altitude and means of transportation as well as effectiveness of personal weapons of Jawans and booming of big guns come into play. The taste of pudding lies in eating it and unless the spirit of friendship of higher command is time-tested, small war games would just be like offering lollipops to future adversaries.
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anand means perfect biss

AUM
ANAND MEANS PERFECT BLLISS
By Chitranjan Sawant

TO BE or not to be in a blessed state has never been the question before an average human being except the likes of Shakespeare’s creation called Hamlet. To be in a blessed state is to be more than happy. Indeed, happiness is a state of mind whereas being in a blessed state encompasses both body and soul. The Vedic word for the state of blessedness is ``ANAND’’.

No wonder the social and religious reformer of the 19th century India, Swami Dayanand Saraswati always addressed his disciples and friends in letters using the words ``Anandit Raho’’ or be in a state of blessedness. This was his way of writing to the high and mighty as well as the commoners. Shriyut Mulraj, Jiwandas, Saindas etc of Lahore, Pandit Shyamji Krishna Varma of Mumbai, His Highness Maharana Sajjan Singh ji, king of Mewar,Udaipur were equally blessed by the Maharshi in his correspondence with them. About himself too he would mention in the letters ``main anand mein hoon.’’ (I am in a state of blessedness). Of course, it is ``Anand’’ that the soul or the Jeevatma longs for.

With a view to achieving the state of blessedness, one has to strike the happy balance of ``Prarthna (prayer)and purushartha (action). The twain shall meet, if one strives for it. In the Vedic sandhya, right at the end, the devout soul with a sense of `Samarpan’, which is more than a willful surrender to the wishes of the Almighty, prays for realization of the ultimate goal – Moksha – and affirms his will to work for it through the prescribed path of Karma (action). While doing one’s duty one is fortified by devotion to Ishwar (God) through recitation of and meditation on the meaning of the mantras.

"Charaiveti Charaiveti’’ – move on and on – that is the Vedic command to all humans wherever they are. If one halts for good, one is as good as dead. An individual whose body has not been abandoned by the soul should pulsate with energy for lively action. It should be right action for the right cause. The right goal is achieved through the right means.

All our actions will be well intentioned if we are guided by a feeling of friendliness towards one and all without any discrimination in thought and action. ``Mitrasya Chakshusha Sarvani Bhutani Samikshantam’’ – look at and behave with all living beings as FRIENDS. If you befriend one and all you rise above avarice, anger, animosity and similar negative feelings. One will not do to a friend what one will not do to one’s self. Thus the state of blessedness will descend on the door of the good. It is the ideal condition when all human beings will be free from strife.

Agony will yield to Ecstasy.

With a view to achieving that state of blessedness one should strive to have an enlightened mind in a healthy body and play the role of an active member of a vibrant social order. The totality of this happy combination will result in social efficiency. For a healthy body adequate and regular exercise coupled with a balanced diet is recommended. PRANAYAM or conscious control of inhaling, holding on and exhaling process contributes a lot in restoring respiratory system and consequent blood circulation to a state of perfect health. One should seek and be blessed by a good guru and get going with the pranayam practices. Regular morning walks and allied aerobic exercises may supplement the PRANAYAMIC ones in one’s quest of state of blessedness.

"Are you fond of good food?’’ Who isn’t, that is a counter question. The well fed men and women should never lose sight of the age old saying: ``eat to live and don’t live to eat.’’ An observance of this time tested observation will go more than half way in solving the chronic over weight related problems, preventing achievement of the state of blessedness. Dhanwantri, the celebrated Vaidyaraj of yore had opined ``hit bhook, mit bhook, rit bhook’’ that is eat what promotes health, eat that much that your body needs and eat what you earn by the sweat of your brow.

Indeed propitiating the palate has no place in our quest of blessed state. Food for thought of course is of prime importance in this context. Healthy literature promotes a healthy mind.

"Porno’’ has no place in our quest, notwithstanding the Freudian emphasis on sex as a dynamo producing energy for all types of human actions. Those who subscribe to CHARVAK’S theory of heavy borrowing to fund a luxurious living come to grief. A grieving man is by no chance a Blessed Man.

Let us develop a healthy mind in a healthy body and live in a state of perpetual fearlessness – ABHAYAM. Let us enlist the support of the family and the common man in the society to achieve the blessed state. We may, therefore, enjoy its fruits with the blessings of God – SACCHIDANAND.
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ARE WAR CLOUDS GATHERING ON OUR BORDERS?

AUM
SINO – PAK GOVT CONTROLLLED MEDIA MYOPIC
By Brigadier(Retd) Chitranjan Sawant,VSM
The Indian press enjoys freedom of thought and expression like in any other democratic country. The world media acknowledges it and gives credit to the Indian constitution and its implementation in word and spirit. Both China and Pakistan are jealous of the state of the Indian press and its global appreciation. Breathing free and fresh air is a privilege alien to China and Pakistan. The free world knows it too well that China is a communist totalitarian country and Pakistan is a terrorist state ruled by the army in turmoil. China has a one-party political system where the Communist Party of China is like a god because the communist-atheist regime knows no other god. Pakistan has rarely tasted the forbidden fruit of Democracy as it has all along been ruled by the army which knows only one rule: might is right.
JOINT JINGOISM OF GENERALS
What has provoked a rather unsavoury debate in columns of the print media and caused chats on TV to be lively beyond belief is the projected joint military exercises of the PLA of China and the Army of Pakistan near Islamabad and touching borders with India. Naturally the Indian press reacted and wrote about it truthfully analysing facts objectively. The high ranking military officers who lend a guiding hand to the Press in China and Pakistan were more than upset on reading reports and analyses in the Indian media on the so called joint military exercises ostensibly aimed at curbing terrorism but in fact assessing their plans for military encirclement of their common adversary, India. Their aim is to browbeat the Indian armed forces with their latest weapon systems, armaments, equipment and ballistic missiles.
People’s Republic of China has its one point agenda to encourage Pakistan and aid it militarily and monetarily to keep India bogged down in the regional marshy land; thus keep itself free to engage America to gain the status of a global power. Among the TEN Principles of War the first one is: AIM. Then comes Maintenance of AIM. China is absolutely clear about it and has been working on it for a fairly long time. The disenchantment of America with the duplicity of Pakistan and its consequent alienation has brought China and Pakistan still closer to cement their time-tested collaboration.
The year 2004 saw the first joint jingoism of generals of the two armies in the form of a military exercise on the soil of China. It was given the name YOUYI-I (Friendship One) and was rated as successful. The Chinese army generals called the shots and even the name was given in Chinese – YOUYI. Of course, there were no independent military observers. The examinees also doubled up as examiners. This year’s YOUYI is the Fifth in the series and the Indian Military has to observe it as closely as possible and draw deductions.
INDIAN REACTION FLAWLESS
The China Daily, an official mouthpiece of the Chinese government and the Communist Party of China has reacted rather sharply to the objective reporting of the Indian media. The widely read newspaper said in no uncertain language that the reaction of the Indian scribes was a” Frenzy” and the Indians always wear blinkers when they view the Sino-Pak friendship. In their misplaced enthusiasm to castigate the Indian journalists they admitted that additional army battalions of the People’s Liberation Army have been deployed in the territory of the Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Of course, they used the fig leaf of humanitarian aid to cover their naked body of military aggression against India in the northern areas of Jammu and Kashmir, an integral part of the Union of India.
Fu Xiaoqiang, a noted critic on matters military also used the word FRENZY to describe the in depth analysis of the geo-military situation on the borders of India and Pakistan. He said that the charges levelled against China for harbouring hostile plans against India were absolutely baseless. Fu used another fig leaf to cover his country’s naked aggression -agenda by saying that the two countries, China and Pakistan were getting together to act against Terrorism gaining ground in the area. He conveniently ignored the hard realities that it is Pakistan that is nurturing Islamist terrorism. The Pakistan Army Chief has gone on record to say that the Pakistan Army will never kill the Taliban as they were brothers and the Taliban would defend the flanks of the Pakistan Army when it goes to war with India. Thus Pakistan is playing the double role of a thief and the Police. China chose to turn Nelson’s eye to this hard reality of Pakistan’s duplicity.
An objective military analysis of the joint jingoism of generals is not to assess their preparedness for a war on terror but to see how prepared Pakistanis are in waging a low intensity conflict bordering a limited war in the Indian sub-continent. The plea taken that the two armies would share their experiences and exchange information against top terror leaders and organisations like the Haqqani network are just some of the many plans of Deception that they wish to master together. After all it was Sun Tzu, the master strategist of China who wrote in his treatise, ART OF WAR that War is nothing but Deception.
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INDIA-CHINA WAR - 1962 - WHY DID INDIA LOSE?

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Oct 22, 2002
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The Rediff Special/Brigadier (retd) Chitranjan Sawant, VSM

In the summer of 1996, more than 35 years after the 1962 war with China, I had an opportunity to stand on the Chinese side of the Dhola ridge and see our own battleground in NEFA [the North East Frontier Agency, now Arunachal Pradesh].

This was the same Dhola ridge from where the People's Liberation Army of China had attacked the Indian forward positions and rolled down Sela-Bomdilla till the foothills near Tezpur on October 20, 1962.

I was visiting Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, as an independent producer of TV documentaries on Tibet. Having seen NEFA from the Indian side, I asked my hosts if I could have a view of the area from the Chinese side.

There was stunned silence in the banquet hall where the Chinese and Tibetan administrators had hosted a dinner for me. Finally, the Tibetan head of administration, on a cue from his Chinese adviser, said: "Brigadier, you may see, but not shoot." I accepted his suggestion, and next morning Chinese army Mitsubishi Pajeros took me and the crew to the area.

Tough terrain indeed. But not tougher than the one on our side, was my silent verdict after a mental comparison. The altitude was high without causing respiratory complications because of thick foliage. And exactly like on our side, local cowherds tended to their flock unawed by our presence.

The Chinese military intelligence officer (so I presumed) who doubled as a liaison officer appreciated my desire to take a close look at the imaginary international border and touch the Indian soil with reverence. "Sying-sying," he said in Chinese mandarin, indicating his okay, and I lost no time in taking a military look at the massive Dhola ridge from where officers and men of the People's Liberation Army descended on the Indian territory using ropes, bypassing our formidable infantry positions and attacking the nerve centre, headquarters of the 7 Infantry Brigade.

The brigade commander, Brig John Dalvi, was literally caught with his pants down. The PLA had taken its first VIP red-tab prisoner of war.

Many more other ranks (junior commissioned officers and jawans) were to fall into their net later. It was indeed a disgraceful show and serving subalterns and captains like me felt let down by those who mattered in the military and civilian set-up.

On the ground hallowed by selfless sacrifice made beyond the call of duty by many of my brothers-in-arms, I stood in silence for more than the customary two minutes. Many images flashed across my mind as I recalled the dramatis personae, both the living and the dead. They seemed to communicate moments of agony and ecstasy depending on courage or cowardice. There were examples galore of both.

Sipahi (later Naik and in present folklore Captain) Jaswant Singh of the 4th battalion of the Garhwal Rifles manned a post with his light machine-gun on a road bend near Sela top. In that bitter snowfall, when the Chinese attacked his post, wave after wave, he stood his ground with grit and determination. His fellow soldiers fell fighting. Outgunned and outnumbered, he still kept the enemy at bay until he finally succumbed to his injuries.

His body was never found, but his memory remains fresh in folklore. Every evening, successive units at the post prepare a bed for him and food is served for his soul, and the local hill population describe him as 'Captain sahib'. I am told that even now his paltan (battalion) refuses to suffix 'the late' to his name.

Then there was Captain (now a retired colonel) S N Tandon, who won a Vir Chakra for gallantry. He and I were gentlemen cadets in the Naushera company of the Indian Military Academy in 1959. He confided in me in the late 1960s that when the soldiers of the PLA captured him as well as his commanding officer, the latter started crying, moaning that he would never be able to meet his wife and children in this life. Tandon being a bachelor had no such emotional outburst.

The Chinese commissars, Tandon told me later, devoted a lot of time and energy to brainwashing Indian officers and men in the PoW camps. But this did not cut much ice because of family loyalties, and most of them remained steadfast and committed to the Indian values of life.

My reverie was broken by my film crew, who pointed out that it was getting late and time to return to base.

Where did you face us in 1962, asked Mr Qiao, one of the Chinese officials, in a light-hearted manner. "Here, there, and everywhere," I replied, and we all laughed it away.

Tomorrow would be another day, I said to myself, and tried to sleep.

But sleep eluded me that night. The 1962 debacle of our army kept haunting me. Jawaharlal Nehru's words that China had stabbed India in the back by launching a dastardly attack crisscrossed my mind many a time. Now, four decades after the bitter war, I was their guest.

The Chinese always kept emphasizing that they were not the aggressors. Chou En-lai, the then Chinese prime minister, and other Chinese decision-makers had taken Nehru's off-the-cuff statement made in Madras on October 12, 1962, that he had "ordered the Indian Army to throw the Chinese out" very seriously.

The PLA in Tibet, where they were entrenched since 1950, mobilized to launch a pre-emptive attack on NEFA.

In an academic discussion with my Chinese hosts, I asked them: "Didn't you fire the first shot?" The Chinese hosts replied that after Nehru's provocative statement amounting to a declaration of war, a self-respecting nation like China could not have waited to be attacked.

I recall that the Americans were very sympathetic to the Indian Army's debacle in NEFA and were convinced that China was the aggressor. If memory serves me right, the Americans used the term 'Himalayan Pearl Harbour' to describe our discomfiture as akin to their own.

The other view was that we Indians got what we had asked for. The author of India's China war, Neville Maxwell, exonerated the Chinese and said blaming them was 'a soothing fantasy' for the Indians.

When I look back over these 40 years of my own experience in the Indian Army as a student of military history, I feel that the last word on the subject has not been said. Perhaps a latter-day historian with an unbiased mind and access to declassified war diaries may arrive at this image-shattering deduction: the unpronounced rivalry between Nehru and Chou En-lai to play a dominant role in Asia was the root cause of the military conflict in 1962.

Of course, undefined and undemarcated borders in the high Himalayas were a British legacy that the independent Indian government carried forward. The British imperial military power could sustain the theory of undefined borders and make inroads into Tibet. But independent India, without the backing of a mighty military machine, found the vagueness of borders a heavy burden, which was difficult to carry and not easy to shake off.

The Chinese were gaining strength day by day after October 1, 1949, when New China was born. Consequently, when the PLA moved into almost independent Tibet in 1950, the Indian foreign policy makers did not even whimper, let alone think of an intervention. The remnants of the Indian mission and post office in Lhasa were wound up post-haste.

The Indian Tri-colour was never to flutter in the Lhasa breeze again.

Reverting to the military operations in NEFA, we find that the 4th Indian military division degenerated into a complete rout without giving a sustained battle to the intruding Chinese. When the PLA launched its first wave of attacks on October 20, 1962, some Indian Army units in Walong on the far eastern side did offer determined resistance. But on the Dhola-Sela-Bomdilla axis it was a complete rout.

In all fairness to the Chinese, it must be mentioned that they had offered a ceasefire and a negotiated withdrawal from Indian territory when they met stiff resistance in the Walong sector. But the Indian Army and political leadership --- wishing "to throw the Chinese out" --- found that a humiliating proposition. But throwing the Chinese out remained wishful thinking.

On November 15, 1962, some Indian Army units launched a counter attack and gained limited success. There was a short thaw in the battle. Then the PLA inducted more men and new guns to renew a determined onslaught, which totally routed the Indian side. The magnitude of their attack had to be seen to be believed.

Rumours in the Indian rank and file aided the Chinese more than their own military tactics. A mere whisper of Chinese soldiers being seen in the vicinity would send rank and file running for cover where none was available. To our eternal shame, the commanding general and his colonels, leave alone the jawans, deserted their posts and gave the Chinese army a free run up to the foothills near the town of Tezpur. Disabled jawans who had lost their limbs in snow and literally walked into Chinese PoW camps cursed themselves and their officers for the sad state.

But military strategists all over the world appreciated that the Indian jawans even while retreating from battle, never abandoned their rifles. An unprepared army, ill-armed, ill-clad, and ill-trained for mountain warfare, had been ordered to give battle to seasoned PLA officers and men who had more than a decade's experience of mountain warfare in Tibet.

The majority of the Indian soldiers did not have suitable winter clothing and proper footwear for snowbound battlefields. Ammunition was in short supply because quite a few ponies carried commodes for officers instead of ammunition for soldiers. The command and control from corps headquarters downwards was non-functional.

Lieutenant General B M Kaul, commanding general of the newly raised 4 Corps at Tezpur, had never commanded an active fighting outfit notwithstanding his Sandhurst training. Instead of planning military strategy at Tezpur or in forward areas, he wasted crucial days in Delhi nursing a sore throat.

While the military situation of the Indian Army was in such a mess, the Chinese once again caught us by surprise by declaring a unilateral ceasefire as they had no visible Indian units to fight. In one stroke they scored a military-cum-diplomatic victory.

I shall be failing in my duty, however, if I do not pay tribute to the gallantry of those who fought till the last round and last breath. Among them stands tall Brigadier Hoshiar Singh, commander of the Sela Brigade, who gave a bloody nose to the Chinese even after being cut off from his division headquarters at Bomdilla. He made the supreme sacrifice in action.

Subedar Joginder Singh too went beyond the call of duty, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy and saving the lives of his men. The nation honoured him with the Param Vir Chakra, the country's highest gallantry award in war, posthumously.

They who died for the country still live in their countrymen's memory. We salute our martyrs, cherish their memories, and encourage our young ones to emulate them.

Brigadier (retd) Chitranjan Sawant is a Sinologist and a qualified interpreter of Mandarin. He was deputed by the Government of India to study the Chinese language and affairs in California after the 1962 Sino-Indian war, when he was posted in the Ladakh sector. He has visited China and Tibet thrice and produced television documentaries.





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