No Chinese incursion in Arunachal Pradesh after 1959: Army's Eastern Command Chief

There has been no Chinese incursion in Arunachal Pradesh since 1959, Chief of Army's Eastern Command, Lt Gen Rana Pratap Kalita said on Monday.

“There are some reports claiming that China has constructed new villages in Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh. Those areas were occupied by China before 1959. There has been no incursion in Arunachal Pradesh sector since then,” Kalita stated refuting the reports of incursion and alleged abductions of villagers by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) after they inadvertently walked into the Chinese side.

“The confusion is created due to the fact that the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is not clearly delineated. People living close to the LAC depend on hunting and collection of herbs for livelihood and some of them walk into the other side. In the last three-four years, there have been some such incidents, but they have been successfully brought back as per the protocols and the mechanism we have developed with the Chinese counterparts,” Kalita said at the Army Cantonment at Narengi in Guwahati.

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“But there have been no reports about one person from Arunachal Pradesh, who had reportedly gone missing about two years ago,” he said.

A Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Arunachal Pradesh, Tapir Gao, has repeatedly claimed that the PLA has occupied a large area in the state since the Indo-China war in 1962.

Talking about the challenges in upgrading the infrastructure along the border to counter the threat from China, Kalita said: “Inclement weather and the topography is the biggest challenge. China has built many new roads, airports and helipads as part of their defence preparedness since Tibet became their part. We have also taken up infrastructure development projects along the border, but weather has often delayed our projects. But the facilities and quality of weapons for our troops has improved a lot in the past few years. We are ready round-the-clock to counter any threat in the eastern sector.”

As for the Indo-Myanmar border, the senior army officer said monitoring the 1,600-km-long border was a challenge due to thick jungles and the free movement agreement within 16km radius of the borders. “As people living close to the border can move freely without any documents, it is difficult to identify who is a militant, a cross-border smuggler or an innocent trader or local resident,” Kalita said.

AFSPA withdrawal

In terms of complete withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) from the rest of the Northeast, Kalita said the onus was now on the militant groups in ceasefire and civil society. “Army has already moved out of…23 districts in Assam, from where AFSPA was withdrawn recently. We are happy to be kept out of internal security duty, but the onus now is on the civil society and the insurgent groups…to ensure that the security situation improves further for complete withdrawal of the AFSPA from the rest of the areas,” he said.

However, he also mentioned that Manipur, from where 59 per cent of last year's violent incidents were reported, is still a concern for security forces.