Neeraj Rajput
The Chinese PLA and the CCP Government led by XI Jinping however remained quiet on the number of casualties—both fatal as well non-fatal.Ahead of the third anniversary of the Galwan Valley skirmish (15-16th June), some photographs and videos on social media have created a sensation leading to speculation as to what exactly happened between armies of India and China in Eastern Ladakh in ‘20. Who had suffered more in the bloody battle between two Asian giants who have a 70 years long border dispute in the high altitude regions of Himalayan region.
An obnoxious twitter account in the (fictitious) name of ‘Aryan_Vedas’ posted a series of pix and videos showing Indian soldiers in the captivity of the Chinese PLA. Many Indian soldiers were seen having grievous injuries while some were seen apologising. After the complaint was made the original post was ‘withheld’ in India but other posts in the thread still exist.
But some Indians were quick to pick up the post by the twitter account which was created in the month of April and has a location in Spain. A former senior military commander who is believed to be present day Modi Government’s baiter, wrote, “Horrifying ! (The) Indian Army m(n)eeds to put up its own videos.”
Another Indian veteran who is now a journalist went on to say, “India should prepare for war with China – countdown has begun with these horrendous Galwan killings pictures released by them- expect war by PLA in 2023-2024 winter. It will not be a border war, but a war of sovereignty. Pakistan will not be a bystander in the war!”
But a close look at the pictures and videos suggest that they are not new. Most of the pictures and videos were already in the public domain. In fact videos were seen on Chinese mainstream news channels and screenshots of the news-items have also been shared by the account which goes by the name ‘Shiva’s Grandpa’ (obviously to irk Indians who rever Lord Shiva) and claim to be born in 1962, the year when China had defeated India along 3488 Km long Line of Actual Control (LAC) and captured Aksai Chin. Disputed Galwan Valley is sandwiched between Aksai Chin and Eastern Ladakh of India.
When such pictures emerged from China in ‘20, the author himself had asked Indian authorities to release pictures of its side as Indians too had made some Chinese PLA soldiers captive perhaps. Both sides had swapped the captive soldiers later, it’s always believed. “We don’t want to start a social media war”, a South Block source was quick to quip then. South Block in Delhi houses the Ministry of Defence and the Indian Army Headquarter.
But questions still persist which side suffered more—Indian Army or the Chinese PLA. Soon after the Galwan Valley brawl, the Indian Army had released an official statement informing 20 bravehearts made supreme sacrifice fighting the adversaries. Those killed in action (KIA) from the Indian side included a Commanding Officer (CO) of a Bihar Regiment unit (battalion), Colonel B Santosh Babu. Though India had termed the situation at LAC as ‘No Peace, No War’ but Col Babu was conferred with second highest war time bravery award, Mahavir Chakra. Out of these 20 KIA, a total of 06 bravehearts (all posthumous) were awarded gallantry medals including Col Babu.
Few days after the brawl, which had taken place between the armies of India and China after a full 45 years (last bullet was fired between them along LAC in ‘75), Indian Army released a list of injured soldiers too. First, it was mentioned that the number was 76 but soon the list was updated and told it stood by 96. List was updated perhaps after the formal exchange of captive soldiers was undertaken with the Chinese army. The Indian Army later shared pictures of injured soldiers in the military hospital of Leh (administrative capital of Ladakh union territory) when the then Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen MM Naravane had visited them to enquire about their health and well being.
The Chinese PLA and the CCP Government led by XI Jinping however remained quiet on the number of casualties—both fatal as well non-fatal. The Indian Army also didn’t specify how many Chinese troops could have been killed or injured in the battle in which not a single bullet was fired. Reports which emerged in tidbits from the ground-zero suggested that the PLA had to pitch in ‘helicopters to evacuate’ (large number of) soldiers from the Galwan Valley. This led to the mills of speculation churning regarding the number of casualties PLA had suffered.
While the defence and security establishment of India controlled the flow of information in New Delhi, media were not allowed to go near the LAC in Eastern Ladakh. Only official information was shared by the Indian Army to the media and there was hardly any ‘kite-flying’ as far as reporting related to the Indian version was concerned. Strict orders were given that media persons should not go outside Leh which was about 150 Kms from the Galwan Valley–and one has to cross one of the highest mountain passes in the world, Changla at an height of 17,500 ft.
Since Covid protocols were still in place restrictions were imposed on tourists to visit the panoramic Pangong Tso (Lake) which is 225 Kms from Leh. Tourists can now visit Pangong Tso after obtaining a permit (pass) from the local administration–Inner Line Permit. Enroute Pangong lake, a route from Durburk village turns left towards Galwan Valley on the newly built Durbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) axis, popularly known as DS-DBO Road. Durburk is still the last village where civilians (and mediapersons) can go and from there onwards the DS-DBO road remains out of bounds. Back in ‘20 some strategic experts believed that large scale infrastructure development including roads and defences by India along LAC in Eastern Ladakh had irked Chinese PLA and which eventually led to the Galwan Valley episode.
Infrastructure development in a way played a crucial role in bitter relations between the armies of India and China. After the ‘62 debacle Indian policy thinkers were of the view that roads and other infrastructure should not be developed along the LAC as it could have risk of PLA reaching to the hinterland in case of another war. But from the past one decade this policy has been reverted and India has gone for a major infrastructure development all along the LAC. Border Road Organisation (BRO) of India now claims to have a ‘mirror’ infrastructure development on its side of LAC as Chinese PLA has on the other side. Good roads means now Indian soldiers can have more long range patrols along the LAC and thus increase in numbers of ‘faceoff’ with the Chinese soldiers.
Chinese PLA which was over-confident since the ‘62 war and used to come to the border for patrols only when winters had set off to see if LAC had not been altered by the Indian side was now perturbed with Indian patrolling along the LAC. The border between India and China is contested (both in length and width) since boundary is not yet fixed, unlike India-Pakistan border (LoC) where a fence has been erected all along the border right from Gujarat to Rajasthan, Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir. As such this not only leads to faceoff between Indian and PLA soldiers but scuffle, jostling (videos of which had started emerging on social media from the time of Doklam dispute in ‘17) and even fighting like Galwan Valley brawl which was fought with crude weapons like rods or iron-spiked sticks. Though it’s also true that most of the Indian soldiers who had died or hospitalised after the fight, the main cause was hypothermia. Many soldiers during the fight had fallen from a cliff in the Galwan River which was too cold at a height of 14,000 feet. Same could have been the cause for the casualties of Chinese soldiers.
China remained silent on Galwan Valley casualties and the whole episode till February ’21 when CCP (Chinese Communist Party) announced gallantry medals for PLA soldiers killed in action on the ‘Western Front’ (India border). 04 soldiers were conferred with gallantry medals posthumously while one Colonel rank officer who was badly injured was also awarded the bravery award. Col Qi Fabao was later part of the eminent personalities who ran with the torch of the ‘22 Winter Olympic Games held in Beijing (which was boycotted by India). One among these posthumous soldiers, Chen Hongjun was even conferred with ‘Hero of the century’ award by CCP during centennial celebration of the Party in June ‘22.
While announcing the award China for the first time wrote openly about the Galwan Valley and the Indian border, otherwise till then China also maintained ignorance about the brawl like the twitter account which has uploaded the pix and videos of the three year old skirmish, obviously to irritate Indians just before the third anniversary. But these 04 fatal and one non-fatal casualties were not the actual (or total) number of PLA soldiers who had died or been injured in a brawl with the Indian Army. These were the soldiers conferred with bravery awards. Same as on the Indian side, a total of 06 soldiers out of total 20 KIA were conferred with gallantry medals. Actual number till now has been kept secret by the PLA and other Chinese authorities.
How China hid the total casualties came to the fore when one Chinese blogger was arrested by the authorities for demanding the actual facts of the Galwan Valley fight. The blogger Qiu Ziming who had around 2.5 million followers on Weibo (Chinese equivalent to Twitter) had disclosed that these 04 soldiers who were awarded gallantry medals posthumously were actually those who had gone to evacuate the injured soldiers (or dead bodies) from the battlefield. His account was withheld and the blogger was sent to jail for ‘defaming martyrs’.
Ziming was not totally wrong as China’s global mouthpiece ‘Global Times’ itself wrote on 30th June ‘21, “ At the border clash with India last June, Qi Fabao suffered severe head injuries as he led PLA troops, and Chen Hongjun and Chen Xiangrong broke into the siege for rescue but sacrificed during the clash. Xiao Siyuan returned after the siege to save his comrades until his last minute, and Wang Zhuoran was submerged in the glacier when he was trying to help others cross the river.”
So on the third anniversary of the Galwan Valley clash no tributes could be big (or apt) for the PLA soldiers who were killed fighting India then the CCP announcing the total casualties (both fatal and non-fatal). After 18 rounds of military commanders level talk since the Galwan Valley clash, China now maintains that relations with India along the LAC are ‘stable’. So no harm in sharing the actual data when US and Russian media have already quoted the toll by 40-45 based on intelligence reports of their respective countries. Though India still sees bilateral relations as ‘abnormal’ till 50,000 Chinese soldiers deployed in the forward locations of LAC return to the PLA garrisons located in the ‘depth’ areas.
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