Arohan - The Ascent

Love Vs War

7 thJune 2017 - Chembu Vally -Doklam Platue

The wind rustled mercilessly as the temperatures hovered around 10 degrees, in the month of June signaled good weather. The terrain was mostly loose soil and the occasional rock. And then it would suddenly dip into a gorge, bordering a stream of water.  For as far as the eye could see, there was not a spec of life visible to the naked eye.

The officer looked through his high-resolution binoculars once again. At a distance, he could see the Bhutanese outpost, empty and unoccupied. The Bhutanese hardly manned their outposts, considering the fact that this piece of coveted and, under dispute between, India, Bhutan, and China, had seen no action of any kind in the last 30 years.

That was exactly what the young Cantonese officer, who was hardly 25 years old, lean to the extent of being scrawny and almost emaciated, wanted to see. In fact, his senior was going to be very happy with the news that the outpost on the Bhutanese side was unmanned.

Inch by inch, they would occupy Bhutan and further on the Chembu Valley. Before the Indians knew what had hit them, China would have cut off the Northeastern states from the rest of India, by cutting off the thin strip of land, otherwise known as Chicken's neck, which linked the Northeast of India to the rest of India.

June 8th, 2017 Doklam

The platoon of Chinse officers moved swiftly, in broad daylight. It took the 4 units of the platoon, a little more than 2 hours to dismantle the Bhutanese outposts. Once the outposts had been decimated, the platoon stayed put. They had no weapons in their hands, lest they be seen by the Indians or the Bhutanese, which could lead to a full-scale military escalation.

In less than 90 minutes, a huge convoy of road construction units arrived from the Chinese side, with excavators, bulldozers, and a huge military escort. Their aim for simple and clear. To lay a road to Doklam and further claim Doklam as part of Chinese territory. 

As the road construction crew arrived, unknown to the Chinese side, the Bhutanese, outpost, which was a few meters behind the now destroyed outpost, made frantic calls to their command center. The territorial status quo, which had been maintained for over 30 years had been breached. 

The chains of command, that had slept for 30 years had been activated with military precision. The Bhutanese knew all too well, that if this situation had to be made favorable to them, then they had to inform the Indians about it. The Indians had just as much at stake as the Bhutanese did. The corridors of diplomatic and military partnerships with India quickly buzzed with information.

The powers that be in Delhi, the national capital and seat of power in India, were appraised of the developments in Doklam. The Indian army was immediately alerted to the fast-changing situation and had two choices, To sit back and watch China, chip away at Indian territory and maintain peace and calm, between the two large nuclear powers. Or, to initiate action, that China would least expect from India, having already categorized India as soft power. 

The government of the day decided to take hard action. And thus created an unprecedented challenge for China, which left the rest of the world, to sit up and take note.

Indian Outpost - Chembu Valley

"Boys, we have a situation. The Bhutanese have raised a call for help. The Chinse have destroyed some Bhutanese outposts and are trying to build roads into the Doka La region. We need to head to Doka La and stop the Chinses from coming into our territory," said the platoon commander.