Chumbi Valley at Tri-junction of India, Bhutan & Tibet- A Valley with Strategic Resonance

Chumbi Valley at Tri-junction of India, Bhutan & Tibet - A Valley with Strategic Resonance

Chumbi valley comes under Tibet but it becomes a strategic place as it is situated at the intersection of India (Sikkim), Bhutan and Tibet (China). It is very narrow.

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The valley is named after plant Pedicularis Chumbica which grows here in abundance. It is formed by the passage of the Amo (Torsa) river. Two main passes between India and Tibet (China) open here namely Nathu La Pass and Jelep La Pass.

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This tri-junction of India , Bhutan and Tibet (China) is like a dagger held at India's throat. At this point the Chumbi valley is like a pointed kris dagger thrust between Sikkim and Bhutan giving access to China directly into West Bengal and thus Bangladesh.

A Chinese thrust into West Bengal has many advantages. The main would be the fall of Arunachal Pradesh  into its lap along with Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura. Chumbi valley is very close to Siliguri corridor also known as Chicken Neck Corridor. If this corridor is cut then, it would cut the connection between mainland of India and the North Eastern states.

Prophetically assessing  the strategic importance of Chumbi valley in 1950 itself during Chinese invasion in Tibet, the Political Officer in Sikkim Harishwar Dayal sent a Top Secret cable to his bosses in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi but unfortunately the then government did not pay attention to this basic fact.

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For making the position of India strong enough to thwart any sinister design of China through Chumbi valley, Sikkim Scouts was made operational in 2015 by doing recruitment from the state of Sikkim. Sikkim Scouts is the youngest Indian Army Regiment formed along the lines of Ladakh Scouts and Arunachal Scouts  as it is similarly recruited from a mountainous border area and is dedicated to border defense and mountain warfare.