An ITBP unit based in Thakung, close to the Pangong Tso Lake, reported over 100 sightings of luminous objects
between August 1 and October 15 this year. In reports sent to their
Delhi headquarters in September, and to the Prime Minister's Office
(PMO), they described sighting "Unidentified Luminous Objects" at day
and by night. The yellowish spheres appear to lift off from the horizon
on the Chinese side and slowly traverse the sky for three to five hours
before disappearing.
These were not unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), drones or even low-earth orbiting satellites, say Army officials who have studied the hazy photographs taken by ITBP. Drone sightings are verified and logged separately. The Army
has reported 99 sightings of Chinese drones between January and August
this year: 62 sightings were reported in the western sector, the Ladakh region, and 37 in the eastern sector in Arunachal Pradesh. Three of these drones intruded into territory claimed by India along the 365-km-long border with China in Ladakh, manned by ITBP.
Such
mysterious lights have been sighted before in Ladakh, a barren, 86,000
sq km heavily militarised zone wedged between Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir
and Chinese-occupied Aksai Chin. The persistent sightings by the ITBP
this year, however, worried the Army's Leh-based 14 Corps. The ITBP, did
not respond to a detailed India Today questionnaire.
In September, the Army
moved a mobile ground-based radar unit and a spectrum analyser-that
picks up frequencies emitted from any object-to a mountaintop near the
160-km-long, ribbon-shaped Pangong Lake that lies between India and
China.
The radar could not detect the object that was being
tracked visually, indicating it was non-metallic. The spectrum analyser
could not detect any signals being emitted from them. The Army also flew
a reconnaissance drone in the direction of the floating object, but it
proved a futile exercise. The drone reached its maximum altitude but
lost sight of the floating object.
In late September this year, a
team of astronomers from the Indian Astronomical Observatory at Hanle,
150 km south of the lake, studied the airborne phenomena for three days.
The team spotted the flying objects, Army officials
say, but could not conclusively establish what they were. They did,
however, say that the objects were "non celestial" and ruled out meteors
and planets.
Scientists however say, the harsh geography and
sparse demography of the great Himalayan range that separates Kashmir
Valley from Ladakh, lends itself to unusual sightings. "The region is
snowbound in winter, has few roads and is one of the most isolated
places in India," says Sunil Dhar, a geologist at the government Post
Graduate College in Dharamshala, who has studied glaciers in the region
for 15 years.
Yet, none of the experts from the National
Technical Research Organisation (NTRO)-in charge of technical
intelligence-and Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), has
been able to identify the objects. This has caused embarrassment rather
than fear in the establishment. "Something is clearly wrong, if our
combined scientific resources can't explain the phenomena," says a
senior Army official in Delhi. Intelligence officials say these objects
could be a crude psychological operation by China, or sophisticated
probes attempting to ascertain India's defences in Ladakh.
"We
can't ignore these sightings. We need to probe what new technology
might have been deployed there," says former Indian Air Force (IAF)
chief Air Chief Marshal (retired) P.V. Naik.
In 2010, the IAF
probed and dismissed Army sightings of such luminous objects as "Chinese
lanterns". 'UFO' sightings have been endemic to Ladakh over the past
decade. In late 2003, 14 Corps sent a detailed report on sightings of
luminous objects to Army headquarters. Army troops on posts along
Siachen had seen floating lights on the Chinese side. But reporting such
phenomena risks inviting ridicule. When told about them at a northern
command presentation in Leh, the then army chief, General N.C. Vij, had
angrily dismissed the reports as hallucinations.
Scientists say
the mysterious objects are not necessarily from outer space. "There is
no evidence of 'ufos' being of extra-terrestrial origin," says reputed
Pune-based astrophysicist Jayant Narlikar. "The implication of them
being alien objects is fancy, not fact," he says.
There is still
no explanation, however, for what is believed to be the clearest 'UFO'
sighting yet, in the Lahaul-Spiti region of Himachal Pradesh less than
100 km south of Ladakh in 2004. A five-member group of geologists and
glaciologists led by Dr Anil Kulkarni of the isro's Space Applications
Centre in Ahmedabad were on a research trip through the barren Samudra
Tapu Valley. They filmed a four-foot tall 'robot-like' figure, that
'walked' along the valley, 50 m away from them. The humanoid object then
rapidly became airborne and disappeared. The encounter lasted 40
minutes. It was seen by 14 persons including the six scientists.
Kulkarni then interviewed each expedition member separately to verify
what the team had seen. Copies of his detailed report were circulated to
the PMO, ISRO, the Army and several intelligence agencies. Kulkarni
established his team hadn't seen natural phenomenon. The matter,
however, was buried soon after.
Sunil Dhar, who was part of the
2004 expedition, terms the sighting of the unidentified object an
unforgettable experience. Locals, he says, have reported sighting
mysterious objects for many years. "These are unsolved mysteries that
need more intensive study," he says. Left unexplained, the Ladakh
sightings risk slipping into the crack between fact and science fiction.