Indian Army divisions move to Sikkim-Tibet border

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Although army planners are not expecting a Chinese attack on the disputed Doklam bowl, where some 150 Indian soldiers have been in an eyeball-to-eyeball face-off against some 40 Chinese border guards since June, the army is taking no chances.

Villagers in Nathang, a border village 10 to 12 kilometres as the crow flies from Doklam, have been asked to evacuate their homes and move elsewhere. Nathang is overlooked directly by mountain features at Doklam, like Gyemochen, which China claims as the disputed India-China-Bhutan tri-junction.

Another Indian village nearby, Kuppup, is significantly closer to the border. But it is shielded from the Doklam area by high mountains that Indian troops occupy. Army spokespersons deny the military has asked for Nathang to be evacuated. The civilian administration, however, is unlikely to have taken such a step unilaterally.

Simultaneously, two Indian mountain divisions — the 17 Division, headquartered in Gangtok, and the 27 Division, based in Kalimpong — are discreetly moving troops to their battle stations on the Sikkim-Tibet border, including areas far removed from Dolkam.