To counter China’s buildup, India to move ITBP command to Leh

TIL Desk/World/New Delhi/ Amid growing concerns over the Chinese military buildup along the eastern flank of the country, the government has ordered moving a strategic Indo-Tibetan Border Police command from its current base in Chandigarh by over 960 km to the border of Leh in Jammu and Kashmir, official sources said on Thursday. The North West frontier of the ITBP, tasked to guard the 3,488-km long Sino-India border in peace times, is headed by an Inspector General (IG) of police-rank officer, which is equivalent to a Major General rank in the Army.

The frontier, according to documents, has been ordered to move ‘lock, stock, and barrel’ by March-end and will have to be operationalised at the new location from April 1. The Leh district in the mountains of Jammu and Kashmir is the base for the 14 Corps of the Army that is headed by a Lt General-rank officer and the new shift will allow a better interaction between the two forces ‘for strategic and defence planning’, official sources said.

The Army, which carved out a separate Corps in Leh after Jammu and Srinagar following the Kargil intrusion in 1999, has been demanding operational control over the ITBP, a proposal rejected by the government time and again. Having the ITBP and the Army at the same operational location will resolve these issues as well, the sources said.