The incident comes shortly after a similar one in March
New Delhi:
The army has contacted its counterparts in China over media reports that five men from Arunachal Pradesh have been “kidnapped” by Chinese forces, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said late Sunday.
Rijiju, who is the deputy for the Arunachal West state constituency, was responding to a tweet from a journalist for a Hindi television news channel.
“The Indian Army has already sent a hotline message to the establishment of the counterpart PLA at the Arunachal Pradesh border point. A response is expected,” Rijiju posted.
Earlier the journalist in question wrote: “Concerned, I ask again. What is the update on those 5 Indians allegedly kidnapped by the Chinese #PLA in #ArunachalPradesh as reported yesterday?” and tagged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Rijiju, and Chief Minister Pema Khandu.
The Indian Army has already sent a hotline message to the establishment of the counterpart PLA at the Arunachal Pradesh border point. A response is expected. https://t.co/eo6G9ZwPQ9
– Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) September 6, 2020
On Saturday, a major local newspaper published a report claiming that five men from the Tagin community, who lived in a town near a town called Nacho, had been kidnapped. They were hunting in the jungle at the time of the alleged abduction, the newspaper said.
The report was based on the account of a relative who claimed to have been kidnapped by the Chinese army; The claim was made in a social media post that was subsequently widely shared.
Nacho, who is located in the Upper Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh, belongs to the Lok Sabha constituency of Rijiju.
So far, neither the Indian army nor the state government have confirmed these claims.
A team of police officers has been dispatched to the remote area to investigate these complaints (the village is only accessible on foot), but they have to report.
“We learned about the incident through media reports and publications on social networks. We have discussed the matter with the police headquarters and we have sent a team led by the officer in charge of the Nacho police station to the area to verify the facts,” he said yesterday Upper Subansiri Police Superintendent Taru Gussar by phone to NDTV.
“So far there has been no formal police report of this, but as the matter is sensitive, we have sent our men to find out the facts with the villagers and relatives. Incidents of this type have also occurred in the past in these areas. We have taken this seriously, “he said.
The newspaper report also said that two other villagers, who had accompanied the abductees and managed to escape, recounted the incident to the villagers.
The alleged incident comes on the heels of a similar one in the state in March, when 21-year-old Tongle Sinkam was allegedly abducted by the Chinese military after he reportedly crossed the McMohan line to the Chinese side in search of herbs.
He was handed over to the Indian army after 14 days.
The McMohan Line, an imaginary line that acts as the border between India and China in Arunachal Pradesh, is more than 100 km from Nacho.
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