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Meeting ground in the mountains

Amit Baruah

Hordes of officials and journalists descend on the Nathu La Pass, which is to be officially opened for border trade on Thursday.

— Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury

ALL SET: Preparations are apace at the Nathu La Pass.

THE LOW barbed wire fence was lowered for the Chinese delegation to cross over to the Indian conference room for last-minute confabulations on the nitty-gritty of inaugurating border trade through the 4,310-metre-high Nathu La Pass on Thursday morning.

"See you tomorrow," a People's Liberation Army (PLA) officer tells Brigadier S.L. Narasimhan cheerfully before crossing back into Chinese territory. Other members of his delegation, armed with video cameras, were recording Wednesday's meeting for posterity.

The crossing over, the two-foot-high fence is raised again by Indian jawans. No weapons have been carried by the Indian jawans or Chinese soldiers close to the barbed-wire fence for long. At one place, along the barbed wire, two unarmed soldiers from each side stand back-to-back.

Unable to resist the temptation, this reporter tried talking to the PLA solider and pointed to a large picture of the Potala Palace on the Chinese side. "Yes. Potala Palace," he informed me with a broad smile. How far to Yatung, the designated mart for border trade on the Chinese side? When I point to my watch and say Yatung, he breaks into another smile and says: "One hour."

Easy to cross

At a height of 14,500-feet, Nathu La must be one of the most gentle Passes to cross. There is no sharp gradient; the road just meanders naturally into Chinese territory from Sikkim. If Chinese soldiers are hammering home tent pegs, the Indians are putting up a welcome hoarding.

The hoarding on the Chinese side reads: "Congratulations on opening of China-India border trade through Nathula Pass." Other Indian jawans take out a spanking new tricolour and pull it to position on the flagpole as reporters and photographers mill around.

Multi-coloured flags are already fluttering on the Indian side as enclosures are put up to seat officials and presspersons for the function on Thursday.

Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling and Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) Chairman Qiangba Phuntsog will be the co-chief guests at the opening ceremony. As of Wednesday, neither was scheduled to cross the border.

On the way up to Nathu La, one must cross Sherethang, the designated trade mart on the Indian side, to which Chinese traders and vehicles will be allowed access from 7-30 a.m. to 3-30 p.m., four days a week from June 1 to September 30 every year.

The Army camp in Sherethang has given way for Chinese and Indian traders to meet. A warehouse-type building houses a new State Bank of India branch and a cyber café. The latter proclaims itself to be the "highest cyber café in the world."

When I peer inside, a Sikkimese man is busy loading on some new programmes on one of the six-seven machines in the room. Is it possible to send an e-mail from here? "In a bit, I'm just loading on some programmes," he says.

The Border Roads Organisation, which maintains the 56-km-long Jawaharlal Nehru Marg between Gangtok and Nathu La, seems to have caught on quickly to the India-China opening. "Enhancing border trade and relations," says one sign, while another proclaims, "Connecting countries not only States."

At Sherethang, you can see the new deployment of the paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which will be responsible for overseeing the border trade. The Army will not be responsible for trade as such, but will remain present for security purposes at Nathu La.

There is tremendous media interest in the opening of border trade. M.G. Kiran, Secretary (Information) in the Sikkim Government, said that as many as 260 journalists had registered themselves to report Thursday's function.

On the way down to Gangtok, one could see outside broadcasting or "O.B." vans of different television channels, snaking their way up towards Nathu La. Brigadier Narasimhan, chief of the Nathu La garrison, has his hands full.

He fears the first traffic jam in the area will occur on Thursday morning.

Clearly, never have so many people decided to converge on the Pass. The brisk activity on the Chinese side suggests that the same holds good for them as well.

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