Amid the ongoing border tension between India and China in eastern Ladakh, five persons from Arunachal Pradesh’s Upper Subansiri district have reportedly been “abducted” by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Upper Subansiri district police have sent a team to verify the media reports about the alleged abduction.
The five persons belonged to the Tagin community and were abducted from the jungle near Nacho while they were out hunting, according to a report in the Arunachal Times published on Saturday. The report quoted kin of the abducted persons about the episode.
The villagers who have reportedly been abducted are Toch Singkam, Prasat Ringling, Dongtu Ebiya, Tanu Baker and Ngaru Diri. Two other villagers who managed to escape narrated the incident before the public. However, the relatives have not yet made any communication with the Indian Army regarding the incident, the report said.
The incident has created panic among the villagers of Nacho. The family members have appealed to the authorities to initiate steps to bring the five back to the country, it said.
Meanwhile, Congress MLA from the State Ninong Ering took to microblogging platform Twitter on Saturday and said, “SHOCKING NEWS: Five people from Upper Subansiri district of our State Arunachal Pradesh have reportedly been ‘abducted’ by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA). A few months earlier, a similar incident happened. A befitting reply must be given to #PLA and #CCPChina. @PMOIndia.”
According to local media as well as social media reports, the incident occurred on Thursday.
The LAC is around 260 km from the district headquarters Daporijo. The nearest police station is at Nacho, which is some 130 km away from Daporijo and the victims are expected to meet Army officials to narrate the incident. The police have also not received any formal complaint either from the families or the villagers so far, according to the reports.