The Tagin Cultural Society (TCS) in Arunachal Pradesh has alleged in a memorandum to the governor that a 21-year old youth was abducted by China’s People’s Liberation Army from Asapila sector near the McMahon line in the state’s Upper Subansiri district. Togley Singkam and his friends, Gamshi Chadar and Ronya Nade, had gone to collect traditional herbs from the land belonging to the Naa clan of the Tagin community and also for fishing.
“On the fateful morning of 19th March, the three friends were busy fishing when the Chinese security personnel ambushed them. While other two friends could successfully escape, Tongle Sinkam was abducted at the gunpoint by the Chinese security personnel,” the TCS said in the memorandum to the governor. “He did not cross the LAC or any international border. On the contrary the Chinese security personnel who picked him up in inhuman way had rather transgressed into Indian territory thereby violating international norms/law that guides such matters,” it said.
The McMahon Line separates Tibet from Arunachal Pradesh. China claims the northeastern state of India as its own like it claims a lot of other territories that do not belong to it as its own. The friends of the abducted youth informed the TCS upon their return and Singkam’s family filed a complaint at the Nacho police station on the 23rd of March, the memorandum said. Upper Subansiri’s superintendent of police Taru Gusar told PTI that the Nacho police station’s officer-in-charge has been sent to the spot for a detailed inquiry. The governor’s office has confirmed that the memorandum has been received. Officials at the Army’s Eastern Command headquarters in Kolkata said they are checking the details with its personnel posted in the area.
The TCS has urged the governor to take up the matter with the Center and secure Singkam’s release. It was further said that the Tagin community lives in the border areas and such incidents make their lives miserable. The alleged abduction comes at a time when the world is struggling to grapple with the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic unleashed by China into the world. While the world’s attention remains focused on the pandemic, China has been selling faulty equipment and has upped its ante on the military front.
