October 7, 2020
By Anjana Pasriche
The Atal tunnel (click here) will enable India to rapidly deploy troops and equipment to Ladakh. Straddling the India-China border, the cold desert of Ladakh in northern India has emerged as a flashpoint while both countries spar over their disputed frontier.
"Taking care of the needs of those who protect our country is one of the main priorities of this government," Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while inaugurating the tunnel Saturday.
The world’s longest high-altitude tunnel is part of a network of roads India is racing to build in challenging mountainous terrain to improve connectivity to its Himalayan border with China, large stretches of which are still disputed.
The rapid construction of border infrastructure, according to analysts, is also one of the reasons increasing tensions with Beijing as the most serious military confrontation in decades between the Asian rivals drags into its sixth month.
While many of the projects like the Atal tunnel took years to complete, India is now redoubling efforts to expedite other border roads, bridges and high-altitude airstrips....
There is a continuing diplomatic effort. But, the major change in the region is the movement within India to take care of it's borders. I find that a wonderful development that will lead to protecting the people of India. The fact members of the military leadership were killed, is no small matter and the leadership in India are taking measures to be sure it isn't repeated.
11 October 2020
By Elizabeth Roche
New Delhi - India and China (click here) will sit down for the seventh round of military talks on Monday in another attempt to work out steps to preserve an uneasy truce amid unprecedented tensions on the border between the two countries.
According to analysts, expectations of a “breakthrough" were low with doubts over what could constitute a “breakthrough in the current circumstances, seen as a state of unprecedented tensions in decades. The thinking in some quarters was that a “breakthrough" would mean a restoration of status quo ante – ie China vacate the areas the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) intruded into in May. Another view in New Delhi was that a restoration of status quo would mean India move back from some strategic positions it had taken in Ladakh on the banks of the Pangoing Tso lake surprising the Chinese....
