File photo of Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian.
The Indian Army had informed its Chinese counterpart on Saturday about the disappearance of the five civilians, who were hired as guides and porters by the Army.
- News18.com
- Last update: September 7, 2020 4:12 PM IST
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China on Monday took a decidedly hostile stance to the Indian army’s question on whether five civilians who disappeared from Arunachal Pradesh days ago were in the custody of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
China has never recognized the “so-called ‘Arunachal Pradesh,’ which is China’s southern Tibet region,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a news conference in response to a question on Monday. about the disappeared Indians.
“We still do not have details to release about the question about sending a message from the Indian Army to the PLA about the five disappeared indigenous people in the region,” he added, denying knowledge of the kidnapping.
The Indian army had told its Chinese counterpart about the five civilians, who were hired as guides and porters by the army in the Upper Subansiri district on the China-India border on Saturday.
The alleged abductees have been identified as Toch Singkam, Prasat Ringling, Dongtu Ebiya, Tanu Baker and Ngaru Diri. They had been hunting in the jungle when they were allegedly kidnapped by the PLA.
Two members of the group returned home and informed the families of the other five that Chinese troops had taken them from Sera-7, an army patrol area located about 12 km north of Nacho. Nacho is the last administrative circle along the McMahon line and is about 120 km from the Daporijo district headquarters.
Indian government sources said the matter has not yet been raised to a diplomatic level. “The discussion is just between our border post and theirs. We will have to wait for more clarity,” said an official who requested anonymity.
India-China relations have reached a multi-decade low since clashes in Ladakh in June that killed 20 Indian soldiers. Since then, both sides have stepped up control of their 3,488 km, largely unstable border.
“We spoke to them on the hotline and told them that some people were suspected of having crossed paths with them and we would appreciate it if you could return them, as we normally do,” Lieutenant Colonel Harsh Wardhan Pande, a spokesman for the Indian Army, told the Reuters news agency.
“There is no assigned line going through the forest or the mountains, so they keep moving here and there. So they could have gone there. It’s a very normal thing,” he said, adding that they still had no news from the Chinese.
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