New Delhi: No Indian territory has been lost and all posts remain under Indian control, the Army has said, rejecting claims of Chinese encroachment in Arunachal Pradesh.
“We have not lost any territory and all posts are with us only. ITBP claims are there but mostly unverified and when we check things are under control,” top Army sources told CNN-News18.
The came after a fact-finding committee of the People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA) alleged that Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops had restricted Indian access to key patrolling points in the Taksing area of Upper Subansiri district.
There was “no slow encroachment in Arunachal Pradesh by China as alleged”, sources told ANI.
China claims Arunachal Pradesh as “South Tibet”, a position articulated during the 1960 India-China border talks. At the time, China claimed approximately 69,000 sq km of territory in the state, the sources said.
They also referred to the 1959 incident when China attacked an Assam Rifles outpost at Longju and captured it. The area has since remained in adverse possession and has frequently been in the news because of infrastructure development carried out by China.
Major Chinese operations were launched in the Kameng, Subansiri, Siyom, Siang and Lohit valleys, during the 1962 India-China War.
However, following the ceasefire, the PLA moved back north of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the sources told ANI.
A concerted infrastructure push in recent years has strengthened patrolling and surveillance capabilities in the area, they said, adding that patrols sometimes come face-to-face due to the undemarcated nature of the border. Such situations are resolved through existing mechanisms and protocols.
The Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) are equipped to dominate the border and monitor and check Chinese activities, they said, calling claims of the kind being circulated without specific details as “attention-seeking ploys”.
This response from the Army comes against the backdrop of a report by a fact-finding committee deputed by the PPA.
PLA troops have effectively denied Indian forces access to key patrolling points in the Taksing area of Upper Subansiri district, the committee has alleged. Chinese forces were also steadily expanding control over traditional Indian grazing and hunting grounds along the LAC, it claimed.
former minister and PPA chief adviser Kahfa Bengia headed the four-member committee. It visited Taksing on July 10. The team held detailed interactions with local leaders, elders and intellectuals from Taksing, Maza and Galemo during the visit.
The committee also interacted with senior defence personnel and jawans stationed in the area.