Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO)
Located just south of the Karakoram Pass, the Daulat Beg Oldie airstrip holds immense strategic importance for India in the crucial axis in central Asia. Located at an altitude of at 16614 feet (5065 metres), DBO is an important Army forward area post which was built during the Indo-China conflict in 1962. It was abandoned after an earthquake in 1968 only to be revived in 2008 with the landing of the An-32.
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India holds the airstrip dear as it can use the airstrip for fast deployment of men and material to the region and can potentially block the Karakoram highway between China and Pakistan.
Given reports that China has taken over the Gilgit-Baltistan area on lease from Pakistan for 50 Years, Daulat Beg Oldie presents a real challenge to Chinese plans. China is also working on a plan to link the Karakoram highway to the Gwadar port in Pakistan -- given it strategic exit to the Arabian Sea.
Also, the airstrip is important to help India safeguard the Siachen Glacier as essential supplies can be airlifted in times of emergency or when roads get blocked due to inclement weather.
The territorial incident occurred within a 38,000 square kilometre area of disputed territory between India and China, Aksai Chin. The Chinese claim that this area is part of Xinjiang, while the Indian's believe that this area is a part of Jammu and Kashmir. China and India signed two agreements, in 1993 and 1996, in order to establish protocols to resolve potential disputes in the region. These protocols included the mutual recognition of a "Line of Actual Control"(LAC), but disagreements continue between the two governments about where is the LAC lies over a roughly 20 Km-wide swath in the sector. India first claimed that the Chinese encampment was 10 km on their side of where they view the LAC, later revising that to 19 km. Despite the disputed area being an "unpopulated and desolate wasteland" it is strategically important to China because of the presence of a highway that connects Pakistan to Tibet and Xinjiang. Since the late 1980s, border disputes between India and China have successfully been resolved through diplomacy.
After large-scale Chinese infrastructure improvements adjacent to the region, the Indian army began to develop the infrastructure on their side in the 2000s, which was perceived by the Chinese military as a potential threat. The Indian government claims that Chinese troops continue to illegally enter the area hundred of times every year. Most of these occur without incident but in 2011 Chinese military forces entered 18 km into the disputed area in order to dismantle "17 structures made up of loose stones in the shape of bunkers".
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By Pritam Kumar.
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