Rowdy Ladakh fight explodes on Twitter, Indian Army forced to step in

The unprecedentedly intense battle between Indian and Chinese internet users on social media platform Twitter took off after a video that was posted on Friday-Saturday went viral on Sunday. Senior journalist Sanjib Kr Baruah elaborates on the situation in eastern Ladakh that deteriorated after around 250 Chinese and Indian soldiers were engaged in a violent face-off on the evening of May 5 which spilled over to the next day before the two sides agreed to "disengage".

New Delhi: If one could shed blood on social media, there would have been a lot of it on Twitter on Sunday.

With thousands of soldiers and equipment from the Indian and Chinese militaries being deployed in eastern Ladakh even as tense face-offs continue at about four points in eastern Ladakh, the in-your-face belligerence between the two of the world’s biggest militaries moved to a new level and a new front.

The unprecedentedly fierce battle between Indian and Chinese internet users on social media platform Twitter took off after a video that was posted on Friday-Saturday went viral on Sunday. The video showed an injured and badly bleeding Chinese soldier, kneed down with a transparent shield by Indian soldiers who were a mix of Indian Army and ITBP paramilitary troopers even as the two uniformed groups fought with stones and rods. Mouthing abuses, the Indian soldiers also attacked a military vehicle seemingly belonging to the Chinese.

The bloody video was shot somewhere in a landscape resembling Ladakh. A source of ETV Bharat spoke to put the date of the incident that took place in eastern Ladakh about three-four days back.

But soon after, twitter handles with Chinese characters took off from there as they posted a picture of Chinese soldiers standing over about four tied and badly injured Indian soldiers. The video was shot in a similar landscape to the earlier video but appeared close to a water body.

Reports have also come in of many similar videos going viral on multiple Chinese social networking sites.

With ongoing frantic efforts by both India and China to downplay the latest confrontation, the Indian Army had to step in with a reconciliatory tone. Its statement said: “It has been brought to our notice that a video is doing the rounds in social media on an incident on the borders. The contents of the video being circulated are not authenticated. Attempt to link it with the situation on the Northern borders is mala fide. Currently, no violence is happening.”

Although the Army refused to confirm it, it is being understood that the level of military deliberations between the two armies were being scaled up with Major-General ranked officials being deputed to lead the respective delegations.

Regular talks have been taking place at various levels both at the military and at the diplomatic platforms to put an end to the latest faceoff.

On Saturday, Defence minister Rajnath Singh had downplayed the latest India-China military tension on the border. “India has been following a clear policy of maintaining a good relationship with neighbouring countries and it is not a new approach; We have been following it for long. At times, situation arises with China. It has happened before,” he said.

Meanwhile, both India and China have shown a marked reluctance to even consider US President Donald Trump’s unsolicited offer to mediate in the border crisis between the two Asian giants.