If you look at the map of present-day India, you'll find that towards the northeastern parts of the country, its vast landmass shrinks down to a very narrow passage before widening gradually into the sub-Himalayan region of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal; this area is commonly referred to as North Bengal. It is also important to know that a tiny part of the state of Bihar also falls within the Chicken Neck.
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| Siliguri Corridor or Chicken Neck Corridor is a global geo-strategic flashpoint |
This narrow corridor is the Siliguri Corridor, better known as the Chicken Neck Corridor. The enemies of India, primarily Pakistan, China and the growing pan-Islamic fanatical demography of Bangladesh look at this narrow corridor with a lot of hope and anticipation, which they see as India's 'Achilles Heel'.
The Chicken Neck Corridor is a geo-strategic flashpoint in the Indian sub-continent, precisely for this reason and also because India is a major continental power today with the fourth largest
defence capability in the world. Any attempt to harm India by trying hit it at the Chicken Neck Corridor will result in a massive response from this country.
India is a nuclear power with the fourth largest stockpile of nuclear weapons along with highly capable and tested long range missile-firing capacity in addition to one of the world's most efficient and battle-tested conventional defence forces.
Any misadventure in the Chicken Neck Corridor by any of these enemy countries will lead to a massive response by India that will escalate the cost of the misadventure to unacceptable levels for these countries.
Asymmetrical warfare by enemy forces in Chicken Neck Area
Countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, whenever the latter comes under the rule of anti-India elements, have concluded that they are in no position to fight a conventional war against India since they won't last more than a month in such a war. They simply don't have the military capability.
As far as Pakistan is concerned, it continues with a policy of nefarious attritional and asymmetrical warfare against India through a network of pan-Islamic outfits based all over the Indian sub-continent in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nepal.
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| Pan-Islamic strategy of conquest focuses on infiltrating and overwhelming the target location with population |
The pan-Islamic strategy is to apply their trademark population pressure on the Chicken Neck Corridor like they do elsewhere – quietly and surreptitiously infiltrate and populate the target area.
Unfortunately for India and its West Bengal state, this is taking place at an alarming rate even as you read this blog. As if that is not enough of a peril, a substantial part of the Bengali Hindu population of the Chicken Neck area is as disunited and clueless as they are in the rest of Bengal.
Of course there are pockets of Hindu resistance across the whole of Bengal but most of these are scattered and unconnected to each other, as a result of which, they have no political or strategic leverage against pan-Islamic forces.
Direct threat posed by China on the Chicken Neck Corridor
China of course, is a different kind of threat – it is a superpower with enormous economic and military capability along with an authoritarian communist political leadership. It has its own aspirations of global dominance and a peculiar style of intimidating and pressurizing neighbours even if they are peaceful and do not threaten China in any way.
Ever since it occupied and subjugated Tibet in 1959, China got access to Chumbi Valley, a narrow river valley that juts in between the Indian state of Sikkim and the Himalyan kingdom of Bhutan, a close ally of India.
On the southernmost part of Chumbi Valley, lies an elevated plateau known as Doklam, which is in Bhutan and has always been part of it. Till the time it was independent and sovereign, Tibet never claimed the Doklam plateau but after its occupation by communist China, the latter began claiming this plateau.
The reason is simple – China wants this militarily advantageous location and leverage that against India. On the other hand, as a brother nation of India, Tibet never cast evil eyes on the Chicken Neck Corridor. Why would it...it was a kind of theocratic state, quite distinct and different from the toxic Islamic republics that we see all around us.
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| Doklam plateau in Bhutan overlooks India's Chicken Neck Corridor and China desperately wants the plateau gain military advantage |
Communist China simply cannot resist the temptation of capturing the Doklam plateau as it gives it an open view of the plains of North Bengal right up to the Chicken Neck corridor and beyond. So, China began bullying tiny Bhutan to hand over the Doklam plateau to it and drove the Bhutanese border troops out of the plateau.
That was when Indian troops went in after Bhutan sounded an SOS and literally kicked the Chinese PLA out of Doklam plateau. The Bhutanese troops are back on Doklam plateau while the Indian troops keep a close watch at the India-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction where the Chinese PLA has camped on the lower ground.
Chicken Neck Corridor is a global strategic flashpoint
All these reasons as already explained and many more have combined to make the Chicken Neck area a global flashpoint. India is a very strong nation today and has the capacity to pose a serious threat to China deep in its Han heartland including the capital Beijing.
However, the fragility of the geo-strategic situation of the Chicken Neck Corridor is a bitter reality that India will have to deal with. There needs to be some proactive thinking about widening this corridor in the Indian security establishment so that the threat perception of the Chicken Neck is effectively contained.
We need to learn from Tibet, which was at peace with itself before the brutal Chinese occupation and today it is paying the price for such disregard of their national security.
It is a different matter that the Congress government of India led by Jawaharlal Nehru had shamelessly let Tibet down during its hour of need. As Indians, we can only hang our heads down in shame for this disgraceful act by the people we had chosen to run our nation.
All of India's enemies are in cahoots with each other in the sinister game of sabotage and subterfuge that is going on in the Chicken Neck area. There is some degree of Chinese assistance and collaboration for Pakistan and its proxies in their anti-India activities in this region although it could be said that such collaboration is at a tertiary level.
