Chinese PLA accused of kidnapping Indian teenager in Arunachal Pradesh | Border Conflict News

An Indian government party MP has accused the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of kidnapping a teenager from the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Tapir Gao, a member of parliament for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), told reporters on Wednesday that 17-year-old Miram Taron, a resident of Zido in the Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh, had been “kidnapped” on Tuesday.

Gao said the incident took place in the Siyungla area of ​​Bishing, the last town on the border between India and China, on the left bank of the Siang River, in Arunachal Pradesh.

“Chinese #PLA has kidnapped 17-year-old Miram Taron from Zido. below, Arunachal Pradesh, ”Gao tweeted on Wednesday.

1/2
Chinese #PLA She has kidnapped Sh Miram Taron, a 17-year-old from Zido. yesterday, January 18, 2022, in the interior of India, the Lungta Jor area (China built a 3-4 km road within India in 2018) below the Siyungla area (Bishing village) in the Upper Siang dist, Arunachal Pradesh. pic.twitter.com/ecKzGfgjB7

– Tapir Gao (@TapirGao) January 19, 2022

Indian media reports that Gao reported that Taron went hunting in Bising with his friend Johnny Yaying (27) when he was kidnapped. Yaying fled and informed the villagers of their kidnapping, the politician said.

“She is OK [Taron’s] a friend ran away from the PLA and complained [the incident] to the authorities, ”Gao said in another tweet. “All government agencies in India [are] he asked for his release. “

Shashvat Saurabh, the deputy commissioner of Upper Siang, told Al Jazeera on Thursday that two people were hunting near the Bishing circle when the incident happened on January 18th.

“These two boys were there and one of the two boys was allegedly captured by the PLA,” he said, and the regional administration was in contact with army officials on the matter.

“They’re into that,” he said. “We will try to get back to you as soon as possible.

Another district official told Al Jazeera that they believe the incident took place on the Indian side Actual Line of Control (LAC), after a full-scale war in 1962, the two nations agreed to a de facto 3,500-kilometer (2,100-mile) boundary.

“Our belief (the site of the alleged kidnapping) is on our side, not the other side. They went hunting, which is very common (among the locals), ”said Jummar Basar, a police superintendent in Upper Siang.

“Hunting is common but this type of kidnapping is not common,” Basar said.

On Thursday, a defense spokesman stationed in Tezpur state of Assam said the Indian Army had established a relationship with the PLA to help find and return the individual. A spokesman said the teen was “caught” all over the LAC.

“#Zido #ArunachalPradesh’s 17-year-old Miram Tarom was allegedly captured by #PLA throughout the LAC. Upon receiving the information, #IndianArmy immediately contacted #PLA via #hotline. an army spokesman tweeted.

#HarKaamDeshKeNaam
17-year-old Miram Tarom #Zido #ArunachalPradesh he is said to have captured it #PLA During the LAC. Upon receiving the information, #IndianArmy contacted immediately #PLA through #phone. support #PLA sought to find and return according to protocol. pic.twitter.com/aq1Pv1K0RG

– PRO Defense Tezpur (Assam / Arunachal Pradesh) (@ProAssam) January 20, 2022

It has also become a political issue, with India’s main opposition party leader Rahul Gandhi attacking Prime Minister Modi for his “silence” over the incident.

“The PM’s cowardly silence is his statement; it doesn’t matter,” Gandhi said on Thursday. “We are with Miram Taron’s family and we will not lose hope. We will not give up. ”

This is not the first instance of the PLA allegedly kidnapping an Indian citizen.

In 2020, there were at least two such incidents. In March of that year, the PLA allegedly arrested a man from Upper Subansiri, Arunachal Pradesh, and released him the following month.

in the second event In September, the PLA allegedly took a group of five men on a hunting trip to the same location. A month later they were returned to Indian authorities, an army spokesman said the group had “crossed the LAC”.

In the same month, the Indian Army said it had delivered 13 yachts from the remote Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh to China.

China has it long claimed The state of Arunachal Pradesh on India’s northeastern border is part of its South Tibetan region, where it has begun to assert its military power.

In its annual report to the U.S. Congress on the Chinese military, the Pentagon said China has built a large town in a conflict-ridden area of ​​Arunachal Pradesh and is taking further steps to promote its claims to the LAC.

Tensions between the two Since an uncomfortable ceasefire was agreed in 1962, they have been at the top Asian superpower with nuclear weapons. Much of the LAC is unrestricted after the war and regular clashes are reported.

In the summer of 2020, the Indian Army and PLA took part in a military battle along the LAC in the Indian-administered Ladakh region of Kashmir. Both sides accused each other of blaming each other.

The the stop became deadly in June of that year, 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese soldiers were killed in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, fighting hand-to-hand with sticks and stones.