Syed Tahir Rashdi
At least 20 people have died in clashes between Indian and Chinese troops along the disputed
Himalayan border running along the Ladakh area of Kashmir. It is the first fatal clash since 1975 and the
most serious since 1967. Fighting broke out on Monday evening when an Indian patrol came across
Chinese forces on a narrow ridge. During the confrontation an Indian commanding officer was pushed
and fell into the river gorge. Hundreds of troops from both sides were called in and fought with rocks
and clubs. Several fell to their deaths. This marks as the worst loss of life on Indian border with China in
60 years. As the tensions between both countries rise, #WorldWar3 started to trend on twitter. Under
the hashtag many people write in their tweets that there is a possibility of a major war breaking out
between the two states. Tensions between the two nations flare on a fairly regular basis over their
3,500-kilometre (2,200-mile) frontier, which has never been properly demarcated. Thousands of troops
from the two nations, backed by armoured trucks and artillery, have been involved in a face-off since
May in the Ladakh region, bordering Tibet. As per the statements of Indian Officials, Chinese soldiers
crossed the boundary at three different points, erecting tents and guard posts and ignoring verbal
warnings to leave. That triggered shouting matches, stone-throwing and fistfights. Army officers and
diplomats have held a series of meetings to try to end this but there has been no breakthrough.India
and China fought a war in 1962 over their contested border in the Himalayas. The war ended with a
truce and the formation of a de facto boundary, known as the Line of Actual Control. There has been an
uneasy and fragile peace since, punctuated by skirmishes on the border, including in 2013 and 2017. No
official border has ever been negotiated, the region where the clashes occurred is hostile terrain, at high
altitude and sparsely populated, running through the Ladakh region bordering Tibet, home to a
Buddhist-majority population.
