Kongka La (Pass) in Aksai-Chin

Kongka Pass also known as Kongka La is an elevated mountain route in the Chang-Chemno Range on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China. It is located at an altitude of 5,171 m (16,965 ft). Kongka La is a disputed area on the Indo-Chinese border of Aksai Chin. Indian considers Lanak Pass which is located further east as its boundary, while China considers the Kongka Pass as its boundary. In October 1959, Indian patrol (CRPF) which consisted of seventy soldiers went to establish posts on Lanak Pass which India regarded as their boundry. However, they were confronted by their Chinese counterparts at the Konka Pass, where they had already established a post. Three Indians were captured and detained by the Chinese on October 20, 1959. Next day on October 21, 1959, nine Indian soldiers were killed and seven taken prisoner. The Chinese suffered casualties, with probably only one killed. As per the Indian report the Indian troops were ambushed from a hill top, while the Chinese said that the Indians tried to capture the Chinese patrol and opened fired. The Indian newspapers described the incident as "the brutal massacre of an Indian policy party". The events that precipitated in the years to follow finally culminated with the launch of massive Chinese invasion on 20 October of 1962 and the worst defeat the Indian armed forces have ever faced.

Kongka La is one of the least accessible regions not only due to its high altitude, but also due to an agreement between both the nations which restrains the troops to patrol in this region. However, as per the recent reports the insursion of the Chinese troops in the isolated area created tensions between the two nations. The Kongka La region of Aksai-Chin is quite strange and mysterious. Indian troops including ITBP (Indo-Tibet Border Police Force) and Army has reported sightings of UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) in this area which were visible to the naked eye, but not reported by the radar. An ITBP unit posted at Thakung, which is close to Pangong Tso Lake had reported more than 100 UFO sightings in a period of over three months between August and October.

In the reports sent to Delhi headquarters and the PMO, the officials described the sightings as “Unidentified Luminous Objects” visible both in day as well as night. The luminous objects spherical in shape appear to arise from the horizon on the Chinese side and slowly traverse the sky for three to five hours before disappearing. Those flying objects does not seem to be Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), drones or even low earth-orbiting satellites. Drone sightings are verified and logged separately by the officials. The report was accompanied with some hazy photographs taken by the ITBP which proved their point. None of the agencies including Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO), National Technical Research Organization (NTRO), Army and the ITBP have been able to identify these luminous flying objects. There has been reports of multiple sightings of luminous objects by the army troops deployed along the Indo-Chinese border. Presently Indian Special Operations Forces and intelligence agencies are in charge of that area. Such mysterious lighting have also been sighted before in Ladakh, a barren, 86,000 sq km heavily militarized zone wedged between Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir and Chinese-occupied Aksai Chin.

In order to examine the mysterious lights, the Army moved a mobile ground-based radar unit and a spectrum analyzer (a spectrum analyzer picks up frequencies emitted from any object) to a mountain top near the 160-km-long, ribbon-shaped Pangong Lake that lies between India and China. However, the radar failed to detect the mysterious object that was being tracked visually. This is a clear indication that the object was non-metallic. The spectrum analyzer failed to detect any signals being emitted from those objects. The Army also flew a reconnaissance drone towards the floating object, but it proved a ineffective exercise. The drone reached its maximum altitude but lost sight of the floating object. Later, a team of astronomers from the Indian Astronomical Observatory at Hanle, 150 km south of the Pangong Lake, studied the mysterious airborne phenomena for three days. The astronomical team spotted the flying objects, and established that they could be non-heavenly objects but could not identify them.

Some scientists believe that the mysterious objects are not necessarily from outer space and there has been no evidence of the extra-terrestrial origin of the UFOs, while the intelligence officials believe that the mysterious objects could be crude psychological activity by China, or sophisticated investigations attempting to determine India’s strength in Ladakh. In an another incident, a five-member group of geologists and glaciologists were on a research trip through the barren Samudra Tapu Valley. The team was led by Dr Anil Kulkarni of the ISRO’s Space Applications Center in Ahmedabad. During their expedition, they filmed a four foot tall robot-like humanoid that walked along the valley, just 50 m away from them. The humanoid object then speedily became airborne and disappeared in the sky. The encounter lasted for about 40 minutes, and was witnessed by fourteen persons including the scientists. Dr. Kulkarni later verified this incident with all the team members, and submitted a detailed report to the PMO, ISRO, the Army and other intelligence agencies.

The locals (both Indian and Chinese) say that the UFOs are often sighted emerging out of the ground. Most of them believe that there are underground bases of UFO in Kongka La and both the Indian and Chinese governments are well aware of this fact. On their way to Mount Kailash, some Hindu pilgrims noticed strange lights in the sky which looked like silent luminous crafts emerging out from the beneath the ground and moving vertically up towards the sky. According to the local guides, this is a normal phenomenon and there is nothing to be panicked. Some pilgrims tried to go and investigate the site, but were refused entry by both the Chinese and Indian soldiers in the restricted area. Detailed conversation with Indian security personnel revealed that the incidents of luminous UFOs with amplified and modulated lights emerging from underground are true. However, they had instructions not to allow any unauthorized personnel near the restricted area. The mysterious sightings of the UFO's has made the area dangerous and frightening.

The natives believe that both the Indian and Chinese governments are well aware of the extra-terrestrial presence in the unknown depth of the Himalayas, but for some reason they do not want to expose the fact officially. Kongka La is the region where the Eurasian and the Indian Tectonic plates have converged to create convergent plate boundaries. This is one of the very few regions in the world where the depth of the earth crust is almost double than the normal depth. This gives the liberty of creation of underground extra-terrestrial bases deep into the tectonic plates. However, for some strange, unknown reasons, neither the Chinese nor the Indian government had ever tried to excavate the area even though Kongka La is enriched with granites and beautiful rocks.

After wining Aksai-Chin from India in the 1962 Sino-Indian war, China had built a strategic military highway which is not used now a days. Instead, they use an alternate highway and do not want to infiltrate the Kongka La region. It should also be noted that in a drawing competition held in a local school, more than half of the students drew strange objects emerging out of the ground and flying in the sky. Most of the UFO researchers believe that there exists some UFO bases hidden deep under the ocean and the ground. It may be possible that the harsh geography and sparse demography of the great Himalayan range that separates Kashmir Valley from Ladakh, lends itself to unusual sightings.

In a recent incident, a Chinese armored brigade, outfitted with T-80 main battle tanks, was ordered to proceed to the border from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) base in Niuke. But when the tanks got to Zhada, they found an artificial lake on west of Zhada (very close to the Indian border). The lake filled the Langchui River (called the Sutlej River on the Indian side) valley and threatened to flood the Indian territory. Both India and China were unwilling to investigate the incident. However, later the Chinese media reported that the lake suddenly disappeared from the terrain. Krishnari Bai Dharapurnanda, a UFO Roundup correspondent in India, said "It appears that the aliens melted a glacier and created the transient lake to prevent those Chinese tanks from reaching the border. There are many rumors at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). They say these UFOs are definitely planning and building a fortress in the Himalayas for a purpose known only to the aliens themselves.". Chen Jilin, a UFO Roundup correspondent in China reported "No news is coming out of the Langchui Valley. It is a military region with very tight security. But the rumor is, the extraterrestrials are active in the region with the agreement of the (Chinese Communist) Party and New Delhi, to ward off an attack from the Anglo-Americans and the Israelis.”

The sighting of the mysterious unidentified objects are an unforgettable experience. These unsolved mysteries need to be investigated more thoroughly.