RDay Parade: India to showcase border with China

India will put on display glimpse of its disputed border with China and its soldiers' valour in defending it's borders against an aggressive neighbour, infront of ten ASEAN leaders in the Republic Day parade this year.

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police, which guards the 3,488 km-Sino-India border, will showcase the icy heights of Himalayan borders where defence personnel patrol and use of snow scooters among other elements in its tableau. An ITBP tableau is featured in the parade after a gap of 20 years -- in 1998, it showcased its world class mountaineers and mountains they conquered.

The selection of ITBP for the prestigious parade, where the country's military might and cultural diversity are displayed, is seen as a subtle message India wants to send to the neighbour with which it has a long-standing boundary dispute. It also comes after an uneasy truce over the Doklam episode where ITBP soldiers and their Chinese opponents were locked in an eye-to-eye confrontation.

The ITBP tableau will roll down on the Rajpath where top leaders of ten ASEAN countries will be present. Many of these ASEAN countries have territorial dispute with China.

Those attending the parade as chief guests are Presidents Joko Widodo (Indonesia) and Rodrigo Duterte (Philippines), Prime Ministers Lee Hsien Loong (Singapore), Nguyen Xuan Phuc (Vietnam), Dato Sri Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak (Malaysia), Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha (Thailand), Thongloun Sisoulith (Laos), Hun Sen (Cambodia) and Sultan of Brunei Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah along with Myanmar State Councillor Aung San Suu Kyi.

ITBP officials said tableau will also showcase its achievements in mountaineering, river rafting and adventure sports, latest clothing equipment, river/obstacles crossing and rescue operations by using local resources in high altitude areas through dummies.

A group of women personnel deployed at high altitude borders will march with the tableau to the tunes of ITBP force song 'Hum Sarhad Ke Senani'. . The ITBP has deployed its women personnel on its Border Out Posts since 2016.

Deployed from Karakarom Pass in Jammu and Kashmir to Jechap La in Arunachal, the ITBP guards the Himalayan borders across five states of the nation at treacherous terrains and altitudes ranging from 3,000 to 19,000 feet.