ITBP trains personnel in unarmed combat

BHANU: The ITBP that guards the LAC with China is training its personnel in a new unarmed “offensive” combat technique to gain better skills in taking on the adversary in situations like the Galwan clash of 2020 where crude weapons were used to inflict fatal injuries on Indian troops by the Chinese PLA.

The training module comprises 15-20 different fight manoeuvres taken from various martial arts techniques like judo, karate and krav maga that involve moves like punching, kicking, throwing, joint lock and pinning down.

The about three-month long training is being imparted by seasoned Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) trainers who hone new recruits at the basic training centre (BTC) here for battle inoculation just before getting commissioned into the border force.

“The new unarmed combat technique involves both defensive and offensive moves. We brought in this module for our troops last year on the directions of our former director general Sanjay Arora. The combat skills will render the opponent immobile and can also incapacitate them,” ITBP Inspector General Ishwar Singh Duhan said. The Chinese soldiers used stones, nail-studded sticks, iron rods and clubs in carrying out brutal attacks on Indian soldiers after they protested the erection of a surveillance post by China on the Indian side of the LAC at Galwan (Ladakh) in June, 2020 resulting in 20 casualties on the Indian side while China belatedly claimed only four of its troops were killed.