21-year-old 'Abducted' by China's People's Liberation Army from Arunachal Pradesh

Itanagar/Kolkata: A 21-year-old man was "abducted" by China's Peoples Liberation Army from Asapila sector near the McMahon line in Arunachal Pradesh's Upper Subansiri district, it was alleged in a memorandum to the governor.

Togley Singkam and his two 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 to do some 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 Tagin Cultural Society said in the memorandum to Governor B D Mishra.

The McMahon Line demarcates the boundary between the Tibet autonomous region of China and Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as its own.

The McMahon line is not properly demarcated and small cement pillars erected on the Indian side often get covered under wild growth.

His friends informed the Tagin Cultural Society (TCS) about the alleged incident on their return to district headquarters Daporijo, whose members then approached the authorities.

A complaint was filed by Singkam's family at the Nacho police station on March 23, the memorandum said.

Upper Subansiri's superintendent of police Taru Gusar told PTI that he has sent Nacho police station's officer in-charge to the spot for a detailed inquiry.

The officer is likely to return from the scene of the alleged incident in a remote area by Monday and only then there will be greater clarity, Gusar said.

The governor's office said that the memorandum has been received, while officials at the Army's Eastern Command headquarters in Kolkata said they are checking the details with its personnel posted in the area.

The memorandum claimed that Singkam was picked up from a place which is part of the clan's land and well within the Indian territory.

"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.

Urging the governor to take up the matter with the Centre to secure Singkam's immediate release, it said that members of the Tagin community live in the border areas and such incidents, which keep happening from time to time, make their lives miserable.