New Delhi: Some years ago, a young Indian Army officer sat down in the shade, tired after a long foot patrol with a heavy rucksack on his back. He was at ‘Chotta Killa’, a border point near Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang where the Indian and Chinese armies are in an eyeball-to-eyeball situation.
“Then all of a sudden, a soulful but not-so-perfect rendition of the hit Hindi film song ‘Pardesi Pardesi’ wafted in. It was two PLA soldiers who were belting out the number. The duo waved at me good-naturedly. From what I could see, it was an Indian conquest of China by using the soft power of popular Indian film songs,” the still serving army official told ETV Bharat on condition of anonymity.
Fast forward to 2020 amid the escalating tension in eastern Ladakh, reports speak of PLA playing blaring Punjabi hit songs on the ‘finger’ area on the northern bank of the Pangong Tso where the two sides sit astride lofty peaks barely 200 meters from each other.
“It is a vain attempt to indulge in psychological warfare to distract the Indian soldiers. It has only fallen on deaf ears because our soldiers know it all too well what PLA is trying to do. If anything, it only underlines the popularity of Indian music which we know that the Chinese are really fond of,” said a senior military source.
“It is very foolish on their part to even conceive that such a thing will distract us or make a dent in morale. We have battle-hardened and professional soldiers who have done time in counter-insurgency and have stood vigil at super altitudes at Siachen. PLA soldiers have not had an active battle experience, that too in such hostile situations like us.”
“Logistically too we are prepared. Water stocks, fuel stocks, spares for tanks and armoured vehicles, warm living quarters, adequate ammunition stocks, medical facilities… everything is provided for.”
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With both armies digging in for the winter, the thought foremost on their mind would be the logistics arrangement and maintenance of the supply chains of the food and equipment in the coming months.
Many forward areas witness up to about 40 feet of snow while temperatures plummet to minus 30-40 degrees not to speak of the wind chill factor.
Reports also speak of PLA trying other tricks from the book of ‘psy-ops’ by mounting loudspeakers spewing out venom from its Moldo base across Chushul in eastern Ladakh blaming the Indian political leadership even as state-owned Chinese TV channels and social media handles have started bombarding visuals of a drone dropping hot meals to PLA soldiers posted in the Tibetan frontier with India.
“Chinese troops are mostly from urban areas and not used to hardships or prolonged deployment under field conditions...These worries have been percolating the minds of Chinese troops and are visible in Chinese media,” the senior source said.
