Second Bridge on The Pangong Tso

Lt Col Manoj K Channan, Veteran

 

The PLA has been keeping up its belligerence while feigning a façade of talks at the Corps commanders’ level and now probably at the brigade / battalion level as has been revealed by senior military officers responsible for the area of responsibility.

While bridging the gap on confidence building measures has been cast aside, the first bridge and now the second bridge is perhaps to build the confidence of the PLA military commanders on their ability to quickly deploy their forces, in much earlier time frames from the North Bank of the Pangong Tso to its Southern Bank. The first bridge was used as a service bridge to build the second bridge.

This kind of infrastructure development is dangerous and disturbs the ecological balance in this fragile Himalayan region.

While the construction of this bridge may seem to give the PLA moral ascendancy, in real terms, it really doesn’t.

The recent river crossings in Ukraine at Seversky Donet set the social media ablaze with the video footage indicating the destruction of the mechanised group by the use of drones for laser designation of precision guided munitions.

This is adequate to put to rest any major concerns on the Indian side. A sharp military commander would allow such a build-up on either side of the lake and destroy the bridges midway of the crossings with the majority of the force having crossed over / in the process and sink them in the Pangong Tso. Destroy the residual force on the North Bank and may destroy or capture those who survived on the South bank for the negotiating table.

Infrastructure development is important for deployment and side stepping of troops, it is equally important to have the ability to protect it.