Asia: A Voice from the Mountains

The focus of India’s attention last week shifted to its Himalayan border in the north. There, while the war with Pakistan continued in bloody obscurity, Red China sharpened a knife for India’s back. In Peking, India’s charge d’affaires was roused at one o’clock in the morning with a curt summons to the Foreign Ministry, where he was handed an ultimatum. In brutal terms, the note gave the Indian government three days “to dismantle all military structures along the Sikkim border,” or else take the “grave consequences.”

Closed Neck. Ever since fighting broke out over Kashmir, China has been verbally encouraging Pakistan and denouncing Indian “aggression.” Now Peking switched to grave threats and, for India, it could not have come at a worse time or place. The Indian protectorate of Sikkim is a tiny mountain state ruled by King Palden Thondup Nameyal and his American Queen Hope. It has only 162,000 inhabitants, an area smaller than Yellowstone Park, and a preposterous army of 280 militiamen plus 60 palace guards.

Should China seize Sikkim, it would be in a position to close the narrow neck of land linking India proper to the state of Assam and the North East Frontier Agency, as well as open a route from China to East Pakistan. Well aware of the danger, India has kept two divisions of trained mountain troops based at Kalimpong for just such an eventuality.

China’s charges relate to two 14,000ft. mountain passes, Natu and Jelep, that lead to Tibet’s Chumbi Valley. In this bleak terrain, swept by chill north winds, Peking claims the Indians have built “56 military structures,” ranging from concrete gun positions to entrenchments, on China’s soil. India concedes it has fortified the passes but insists the fortifications are on Sikkimese territory.

Belated Agreement. Since these accusations have gone on for three years, there was obvious new significance to the timing of the ultimatum. New Delhi could hardly afford to stretch its economic and manpower resources to a two-front war, and Peking might feel that India, already embroiled in one war, may be in a mood for concessions on border questions. China’s tough action also strengthens its position as a de facto ally of Pakistan and makes it more difficult for President Mohammed Ayub Khan to enter peace negotiations.

China was already reaping rewards. New Delhi claimed the ultimatum was proof positive that Mao Tse-tung and Ayub Khan were plotting the destruction of India. Even so, India’s Prime Minister Lai Bahadur Shastri tried to stave off war by belatedly agreeing to a two-year-old Chinese offer to have a Sino-Indian inspection team decide whether the fortifications were in China or Sikkim. No one had much hope the offer would be accepted.

Resuming Arms. At week’s end New Delhi was astir with reports of Red Chinese troop movements, not only on the Sikkim border but far to the west in Ladakh as well. In Washington, Indian Ambassador B. K. Nehru strode into Secretary of State Dean Rusk’s office to ask for resumption of U.S. arms shipments.

He also hoped for a public, hands-off-India warning to China, but U.S. officials pointed out that such warnings have been already delivered to Peking. It was all sort of odd, for, while the U.S. was a staunch friend of India, it also hoped to keep some kind of contact with Pakistan, whose President last week was urging the U.S. to use its “considerable influence” to seek a settlement. The U.S. could only repeat its intention of continuing to work through the United Nations. But Secretary-General U Thant had little progress to report.

Travel-worn and depressed, Thant told the Security Council of the total failure of his peace-seeking mission to Rawalpindi and New Delhi. Both India and Pakistan, he said, were ready for a cease-fire but only on their own terms. India wanted a ceasefire, but not if it involved the promise of a plebiscite in Kashmir. Thant asked for new instructions but, even though the Council was meeting on an emergency basis twice a day, its members could not draft an acceptable resolution.

If the U.N. can find no solution to a war between such closely related nations as India and Pakistan, it was unlikely to have much effect on a hostile China.