Maroof Raza’s book Contested Lands: India, China and the Boundary Dispute was published in 2021, while the LAC between India and China in Eastern Ladakh was being actively contested. The author has done a diligent job of deep research and logical concatenation of the history of the contest. The subject has already been extremely well covered by many luminaries like Alistair Lamb, Neville Maxwell, Claude Arpi, RS Kalha and Shiv Kunal Verma, to name a few.
The author has culled out the relevant parts of history and put them together lucidly and its timely publication will help many readers to understand the background to the problem and connect it to the ongoing contest along the LAC. Readers, however, should not expect a solution to the complex problem. The centuries old issue is complex and dynamic, and linked to the geopolitical situation of the world and region. It originated with the British trying to suit their geo-economic needs and their fight for geostrategic space with Russia. The US, Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan and Pakistan got involved along the way. The author has rightly pointed out the effect of the Ukraine crisis on the way China and India are handling the border issue. China and India are big powers competing for the same strategic space.