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Multiple Fronts
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ITBP effectively combines border guarding role with internal security |
ITBP personnel doing counter terrorism drills
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By Pravin Sawhney and Ghazala Wahab
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), unlike other paramilitary forces under the ministry of home affairs, is unique on three counts: It guards the most sensitive border with China; it routinely operates in high altitude areas, at heights ranging from 9,000feet to 18,000feet crossing passes at 21,000feet; and interestingly, is satisfied with the reforms that have come its way following the 2000 Task Force on border management formed by the government after the 1999 Kargil conflict with Pakistan. A perennial complain of other paramilitary forces is that they would like to be a specialised force and not be employed on multifarious duties straddling military and policing roles. In its golden jubilee year, the ITBP has over 50 battalions with new raisings in the offing to meet the sanctioned strength of 63 battalions; each with six service and two support companies. |
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There are numerous striking things about the disputed border with China. India claims it to be 4,056km long, but China in 2010 unilaterally proclaimed that it was a mere 2,000km; Beijing asserts that the disputed Pakistan Occupied Kashmir with India belongs to Pakistan alone. Given the proximity of Ladakh (called the disputed western sector) with POK, it will not be long before India would need to take a political and diplomatic position on the issue, which in turn will impact on the operational and tactical ground realities of which the ITBP alongside the army is an inextricable entity. Next, the disputed border is neither agreed on the maps nor on the ground. Both sides have own perception about how the border runs. India abides by the McMahon Line which is based on the watershed principle, while China includes 90,000sqkm territory of India’s Arunachal Pradesh as its land referring to it as the historic Outer Tibet, a claim which interestingly the Dalai Lama does not uphold.
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