The International Webinar titled Saga of Galwan, held on 11 July , 2020 commenced with an introductory note of Kankana Roy on behalf of Institute of Social and Cultural Studies where she herself introduced the audience with the speakers and requested the coordinator of the Webinar Mr. Rana Banerjee to conduct the session. Sri Rana Banerjee a distinguished fellow and the member of the Governing Council for Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi, India, in his brief introductory speech pointed out the importance of the present Galwan crisis , spoke briefly about the speakers of the Webinar and requested Mr. Pratim Ranjan Bose to initiate his deliberation.

Mr. Pratim Ranjan Bose , an eminent journalist and author, initiated his presentation on the Galwan valley of Eastern Ladakh , which recently was the epicentre of a major border clash between Indian and Chinese armed forces. His discussion was primarily focused on the reference of the book “ Servant of Sahibs” which was based on the life and journey of Ghulam Rasool Galwan an explorer, who travelled extensively along the Silk routes connecting Leh , Gilgit-Baltistan, Xingjiang and Tibet autonomous regions and after whom the Galwan valley is named.

He said that Ghulam Rusool Galwan came from the outcast Galwan community of Kashmir, who started his early life as a porter and accompanied many noteworthy names of British India, who were out there in Ladakh to protector defence and strategic interests of the colonial power and shaped the history of the region. He ended as the chief native assistant of the British joint commissioner at Leh . He interestingly commented that the local Ladakis were proud to associate themselves with the larger Indian identity. He ended his speech by commenting that a look into Galwan’s book along 27 with other references including the notable memoir of Sarat Chandra Das, “The Diary of a spy” might reveal what was happening on India’s northern border today, had its roots to the conflict-ridden past of the region.

Lieutenant General, John R Mukherjee, started his discussion by explaining the geo- politics and geo- strata related to India and China . He opined that as because Japan and India were the principal barrier to the Chinese expansionist policies in East and South Asia respectively it made both the countries as natural enemies of China . He thereafter provided vital information on the history of Sino- Indian border disputes and categorically explained the nature of the dispute in the eastern, western and the middle sector of the Sino- Indian border.

In his presentation he mentioned about the several bilateral agreements starting from the Colombo Plan of 1963 ,1993 Bilateral Peace and Tranquillity agreement , 2005, 2009 and 2016 Wuhan agreement which were signed by the two countries to ease out border tensions. . According to Gen. Mukherjee , Indian support to exiled Tibetan religious leader Dalai Lama, middle kingdom syndrome , war hysteria etc. were some of the principal causes of the Chinese aggression towards India. He opined that the rapid economic growth led China not only in the quick modernization of the people liberation army but it also gave additional impetus in building offensive infrastructure in Tibet bordering China .

He also pointed out the nexus between China and Pakistan to contain India’s rise as a global power . . General Mukherjee also pointed out a series of some other causes which might have led in the growing hostile attitudes of China like , Growing Indian ties with USA, Japan, Australia, Vietnam, Indian increasing interest in South China Sea, Not bowing down to China and repeated denial to participate OBOR & BCIM & BRI initiative, changing status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the abolition of article 370, and 35A , presumed threat over the CEPC due to the rapid infrastructure development by India in Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh the potential treat of Indian’s capturing Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Aksai Chin region, apprehension that India might bloc their important sea trade routes during crisis etc. He was hopeful that such crisis could pragmatically be solved by rational foreign policy and non-antagonistic economic partnership.

Dr. Anders Corr’s, Principal at Corr Analytics: Political Risk Analysis, whose discussion centred round the recent Border skirmish in eastern Ladakh and the systematic Chinese aggression in this region. He said that such brutal aggression by China could be challenged if India joined hands with western democratic powers like United States of America, European Union, United Kingdom, Australia and Asian powers like Japan and Asean countries. He further added that effective economic sanctions over China by world powers could be an effective tool for containing Chinese aggression in this region. In his deliberation he opined that Chinese aggression had always been a source of problem in Ladakh because on innumerable occasions Chinese army forcefully occupied the grazing lands of the Ladaki people. He thereafter pointed out the historiography of the border dispute between India and China and said that during the present Galwan incident the Chinese army intruded more than 100
metres of Indian territory. He reiterated that to deter China in the future not only international economic
sanctions must be imposed, but India would seek closer defence cooperation with countries like the 28 United States, Japan, Australia, Britain, and France against forces like Iran, Russia, Pakistan, China and North Korea.

Mr. Shubir Bhaumik, Editorial Director,Eastern Link and former BBC-Reuters correspondent in his passion driven deliberation commented that India would be cautious while dealing with a large and powerful competitor like China . He severely criticized the policy followed by the present government in dealing with the present Galwan crisis. He stated that though Indian citizens had the right to get proper information about the present Galwan crisis yet the government for unknown reason had denied the citizens to get holistic information of the Sino- Indian border skirmishes in Eastern Ladakh.

Sri Bhaumik supported the Indian Army on this issue and praised the bravery of the Indian soldiers who gave befitting reply to the Chinese aggression in Galwan valley. He thereafter opined that Indian soldiers must be adequately equipped with modern arms and ammunitions to deal with such crisis and pointed out the necessity of a comprehensive and holistic policy in this regard. He ended his discussion by commenting that an aggressive China was only invincible when India had an effective plan to deter Chinese aggression. However he believed that at the end peace was an ultimate solution for both the countries.

The coordinator of the programme Rana Mukherjee while Commenting on the Sino- Pakistan economic cooperation specially the CEPC initiative, he pointed out that the economy of Pakistan had an adverse effect on the momentum of the CEPC initiative. He added that lack of water supply , labour employment issue , and terrorist attack by the Baluchi rebels had made the Gwader port an important centre of the CEPC initiative vulnerable. He ended his discussion by stating that while CEPC remained very important as a flagship project for China in the context of Pakistan’s paranoid insecurities vis-à-vis India, China’s support was likely to remain confined more to the moral than material.

In the questioner session, several important questions were asked to the speakers relating the
present Galwan crisis, Chinese aggression and Indian response such crisis etc. which were replied by
them with critical analysis.The webinar concluded with the vote of thanks from Sri Krisnendu Bakshi on behalf of Institute of Social and Cultural Studies.