Arunachal Pradesh CM Dorjee Khandu had raised the issue of incursions by Chinese troops in a letter to the centre earlier this year.
NEW DELHI: Arunachal Pradesh CM Dorjee Khandu had raised the issue of incursions by Chinese troops in a letter to the centre earlier this year.
DNA had then reported about large-scale incursions by Chinese army into the border state in past three-four years, citing BJP MP Kiren Rijiju’s statement and a report from state police to the home ministry. In its latest ingress into Indian territory, the Chinese army demolished an old Buddha statue at Bum-La in Tawang district.
China has consistently laid claim to 90,000 sq km area of the state and has also refused visas to people-including an IAS officer-from the state. The issue was raised during the Zero hour in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, this time by a Congress MP Nabam Rebia from Arunachal, who said several incursions by Chinese troops had taken place in Arunachal and Sikkim.
Speaking to DNA, Rebia said the incursion and demolition of the Buddha statue took place on October 30 and even though the central government knew about it, he was “worried because there has been no response.”
Taking up the matter in Rajya Sabha, Rebia said the Chinese do not recognise the McMahon Line as the international boundary and added that people living in Arunachal Pradesh felt “a lot of insecurity”.
Rebia said what made the transgression serious was that that Bum-La is not a remote area and is well-populated. “The army also has a base nearby,” he said, accusing it of cowardice for failing to prevent the intrusion.
About a fortnight ago, the chief of Indo Tibetan Border Police VK Joshi said over 140 incidents of incursion by Chinese troops had taken place in the past one year.
In a written reply, defence minister AK Antony said incursions were on account of differing perceptions between New Delhi and Beijing on the line of actual control. In order to address the issue, the matter had been taken up at an appropriate level in the government, Antony said.
Meanwhile, external affairs minister, Pranab Mukherjee admitted on Thursday that there were incursions from the Chinese into Indian territory from time to time. He explained this was because the Line of Actual Control between India and China has not yet been clearly marked.
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