Losing the war, winning the peace(The Hindu)

Losing the war, winning the peace(The Hindu)

Context

• The article talks about the 1962 war, which proved to be a catastrophic defeat for India

About the war

• The Chinese assault on the Thagla Ridge early in the morning of October 20, 1962, which turned simmering military tensions into open war.
• The way the authorities and people of Arunachal Pradesh the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) experienced the war was the most crucial element

NEFA’s struggle

• When large-scale fighting erupted between China and India, it did not take long for NEFA’s civilian officials to realise their entire administration was in jeopardy.
• The retreat of the Indian Army entailed that of the civilian administration. Dozens of administrative centres were evacuated, leaving most of northern NEFA unoccupied and open for Chinese occupation.
• Gains in the Aksai Chin aside, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) occupied significant portions of NEFA.
• Government stores, supplies, equipment, furnishings, weapons and often buildings were systematically damaged, eaten or destroyed.
• On January 17, 1963 the Chinese still occupied Tawang. resumed his duties a few days later.

What was the status post-war?

• India’s frontier officials were worried that it lost trust among inhabitants, as they fled leaving them vulnerable  
• The Raj’s eastern Himalayan frontier had barely been administered and remained poorly explored.
• Gaining the loyalty of the Mishmis, Monpas or Adis was an aim in itself, if they were to become Indian citizens. Winning them over was key.

China v Indian influence

• The problem was that Indian officials’ state-building per force had to contend with the PRC’s own efforts in nearby Tibet.
• China too faced an uphill struggle to concretise its hold there, and it too needed border inhabitants’ cooperation.
• On the contrary, the 1962 War offered China a chance to gain the upper hand in it.
• There is much evidence that the PRC’s occupation of northern NEFA was a sort of public relations exercise vis-à-vis local people.
• Indian officials came back to Tawang to find that no women had been molested and nothing taken without payment; houses, monasteries and possessions were intact.
• The story of NEFA’s occupation suggests that, among other things, the 1962 War was China’s chance to prove to Himalayan people that it was the better state whereas a weak India could neither protect nor deliver.

Conclusion

• Many inhabitants expressed both their disappointment at having been left behind and their support for Indian authorities’ return.
• They made concrete demands to ensure that the disappointment would not re-occur, and that their support would be rewarded.
• China had won the war on both fronts, military and political; yet this had not been enough to win people over, especially since many people had heard of repression in Tibet from refugees passing through.
• The Indian state might be weaker and less efficient, but from the inhabitants’ standpoint it was less of a risk, and offered more chance for negotiation.