(TibetanReview.net, Aug04’24) – Two men from the state of Arunachal Pradesh missing for nearly two years from a remote location along India’s border with Chinese ruled Tibet are still untraceable. They are believed – in fact, known – to be in the custody of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which has so far not acknowledged having them in custody, reported the PTI news agency Aug 4.
Batelum Tikro (35) and his cousin Bainsi Manyu (37) went missing from the Chaglagam area in Anjaw district on Aug 19, 2022 while looking for medicinal herbs at a high altitude area. They never returned home and could not be traced.
“I have come to know that they were detained by the Chinese army,” Mr Tikro’s brother Dishanso Chikro has told PTI over phone.
Chikro has said he approached the local army authorities several times seeking information about his brothers.
“I am told that the issue was raised by the Indian Army with their Chinese counterparts. But no response has come so far,” he has said.
“The Chinese side has not yet acknowledged that the youths are in their custody. But I am told that they are still alive,” Anjaw MLA and State’s Women and Child Development Minister Dasanglu Pul has said.
Mr Chikro had also lodged two missing-person complaints at the local Hayuliang police station saying, “Some fellow villagers might have last seen them at border areas on Aug 24, 2022”, adding, “but since then there has been no sign of the whereabouts of the duo”.
Mr Tikro, who belongs to Doiliang, is unmarried while Manyu, who hails from Manyu Chiprogam of Anjaw district, is married and has two very young children.
“I have no idea what was the response of the Chinese side at the flag meetings (when the matter was raised). The parents of the men keep telling us to do something. But we are helpless so far. We hope that they will return home safe and soon,” Anjaw district Zila Parishad Chairman Soblem Pul has said.
While this is not the first time residents of Arunachal Pradesh have gone missing along the border or been detained by China’s PLA, in most cases, such people returned home after a few days or weeks, the report noted.
This is the first time persons missing along the border have not returned home for almost two years.
India shares a 3,400-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC) with Chinese occupied Tibet, from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh.
India has repeatedly rejected China’s claim that Arunachal Pradesh is southern (or south) Tibet and part of its territory.