India has relocated a damaged statue of the Buddha inwards close to one of its Army posts near the Sino-Indian Line of Actual Control (LAC) to protect it and keep it under constant observation.
The statue was initially placed close to the Bumla pass and shifted by a distance of about 300 metres near an “Army post” where it is under “constant observation”, the ministry of defence informed Parliament on Monday.
A portion of the nose and two fingers of the Buddha statue were found “slightly damaged” nearly three years ago in October 2007. The government informed Parliament that the cause of the damage is “not ascertained”.
There were allegations from some quarters that the statue could have been damaged by the Chinese troops although this has not been proven. Bumla pass is located in Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh. About 90,000 sq. km of Arunachal, including Tawang, is illegally regarded by China as its territory. China refers to Tawang as “south Tibet” and covets it.
Sensing the Chinese mood, India is now working towards improving its military preparedness in areas near the Sino-Indian border and is also improving infrastructure in these areas. China has rapidly improved infrastructure on its side of the LAC.
Both nations have “differing” perceptions of the LAC and there is “no commonly delineated LAC”.