An Indian civilian has reportedly been abducted by Chinese soldiers from the border state of Arunachal Pradesh. The boy is from a district that borders the Tibetan region. Details of the abduction were revealed by Tapir Gao, an MP from the Arunachal east constituency.
“Chinese #PLA has abducted Sh Miram Taron, 17 years of Zido vill. yesterday 18th Jan 2022 from inside Indian territory, Lungta Jor area (China built 3-4 kms road inside India in 2018) under Siyungla area (Bishing village) of Upper Siang dist, Arunachal Pradesh… His friend escaped from PLA and reported to the authorities. All the agencies of Govt of India is requested to step up for his early release,” Gao said in a tweet on Jan. 19.
The village of Bishing, located roughly 260 kilometers from the headquarters of the Upper Siang district, is the last Indian village in the region near the Chinese border. According to Shashvat Saurabh, deputy commissioner of Upper Siang, the district administration is in contact with officers from the Indian Army to ensure the safe return of Miram Taron.
A defense spokesperson confirmed that the youth was taken by the PLA across the Line of Actual Control (LAC). A district official also noted that the abduction had taken place on the Chinese side of the LAC, a 3,500 km (2,100 mile) long border agreed on between India and China following the 1962 war between the two nations.
Kidnappings of Indian civilians by the Chinese regime occur every now and then. Back in March 2020, a man from Arunachal was taken away by the PLA and released the next day. In Sept. 2020, five Indian youths who had gone hunting close to the border were abducted by PLA soldiers.
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The youths were only handed back to the Indian Army a few days later. In October, India released a Chinese soldier who is said to have come into Indian territory looking for yaks.
There have also been instances of Chinese spies crossing into India. In June last year, Indian Border Security Force (BSF) snatched a 36-year-old Chinese man along the Indian-Bangladesh border. He had no valid legal documents.
Though the Chinese national claimed that he was just an export businessman, Indian agencies suspected he was a spy. The fact that the man was carrying several pieces of electronic equipment and other suspicious items strengthened its possibility.
The communist regime has for a long time claimed the state of Arunachal Pradesh as its own, calling it “South Tibet.” In recent years, it has increasingly begun to assert its military prowess in the region.
In December, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs announced standardized names for 15 places in Arunachal. The move attracted sharp criticism from New Delhi. It insisted that Arunachal is a part of India and that “assigning invented names to places… does not alter this fact.”
The head of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, is also mixed in with the Arunachal spat. In 2003, the Lama, who lives in India, dismissed Chinese claims over Arunachal and stated that the region is a part of Tibet.
In 2008, the Lama said that Arunachal is a part of India according to a pact signed by Tibet and the British officials back in 1914. In April 2017, the Dalai Lama visited Arunachal. China reacted strongly to the visit.
