Breaking: Army brings 5 Arunachalee youths back home from China

Guwahati: Five individuals from Arunachal Pradesh's Upper Subansiri District who had inadvertently strayed across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) have been returned to India on Saturday, the Indian Army confirmed via a statement.

Indian Army took over all five individuals at Kibitu on September 12 after completing all the formalities. The five individuals will now be quarantined for 14 days as per COVID-19 protocol and will thereafter be handed over to their family members, the army said.

The Indian Army had earlier approached the PLA on hotline to trace and return the 5 missing youths. On September 8, a response on the hotline confirmed that the missing individuals had been traced.

It is pertinent to mention here that 3 such incidents took place in the current year in Upper Subansiri and West Siang districts, including the latest one. All such individuals were brought back home safely after consistent efforts and coordination by the army.

Arunachal Pradesh MP Kiren Rijiju had yesterday confirmed that the five youths from Arunachal Pradesh who had strayed across the border to the Chinese side earlier this month would be handed back to India on Saturday.

"The Chinese PLA has confirmed to the Indian Army to hand over the youths from Arunachal Pradesh to our side. The handing over is likely to take place anytime tomorrow, i.e. 12 September, 2020 at a designated location," Rijiju tweeted on Friday.

The five youths had gone missing on September 2 from Sera-7 on the Indian side of the McMohan line bifurcating Arunachal Pradesh and Tibet autonomous region (TAR) of China. The youths belonging Tagin tribe used to work as porters for the Indian Army.

A brother of one of the youths took to social media to inform that the missing youths had been 'abducted' by the Chinese PLA. Tapir Gao, BJP MP from Arunachal East, and Congress MLA from Pasighat Ninong Ering tweeted about this development, following which the story went viral on social media.

The disappearance of the youths and the allegation of their 'abduction' by PLA had added to the heightened tension between the neighbouring countries currently engaged in a standoff at the LAC along Ladakh.

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