Five Arunachal Youths Missing, China’s PLA Confirms to Hand Them Over Soon

On Tuesday, the Indian Army released a statement mentioning that China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had assured that five youths from Arunachal Pradesh who had gone missing on Friday from the Sino-Indian broader in the Upper Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh, were found on their side and the formalities for their early transfer was being synchronized.

Union minister Kiren Rijiju has also confirmed that the missing youths have been found by the Chinese side.

The Indian Army said at no stage it had ‘transgressed the Line of Actual Control (LAC) or resorted to use of any aggressive means, including firing’.

The youths who were allegedly kidnapped by the Chinese army have been identified as Prasat Ringling, Toch Singkam, Dongtu Ebiya, Ngaru Diri, and Tanu Baker.

Army spokesperson Col Aman Anand’s statement was issued hours later after the PLA of China asserted Indian troops had fired warning shots, forcing it to ‘take counter-measures to stabilise the situation on the ground’ at Pangong Tso in Ladakh.

Officials for each country blamed the other of breaching agreements made over the dubious border.

The statement incorporated that ‘despite the grave provocation, (Indian) troops exercised great restraint and behaved in a mature and responsible manner’.

Colonel Zhang Shuili, the spokesperson for the PLA Western Theatre Command told the Indian Army ‘crossed the line and entered Bangong Hunan, the western section of the Sino-Indian border’ and the ‘Indian actions seriously violated the relevant agreements and agreements between China and India, pushing up regional tensions, and easily causing misunderstandings and misjudgments’.