ITANAGAR: Inclusion of a representative from Arunachal Pradesh in high-level Sino-India border talks has been demanded by a Congress MP from the state.
“Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister or his representative should participate in the Sino-India border talks and let China know that there would be no compromise on the issue of Arunachal,” Takam Sanjoy, a Lok Sabha MP, told media persons here on Tuesday night.
Sanjoy, who is the lone representative from the north-east in the Parliamentary Standing Committee of External Affairs (PSCEA), said he had made vociferous demands during the meeting of the committee on January 13 where the Arunachal issue dominated proceedings.
The meeting was attended by officials of the external affairs ministry, including foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai.
Sanjoy said, he had told in the meeting that issues related to Arunachal Pradesh are lingering on due to “lack of coordination” between the external affairs, defence and union home ministries.
China, he told the meeting, had stalled the Rs 396 crore Asian Development Bank and Rs 1713 crore World Bank loans for developing Itanagar and Sikkim as part of its political strategy to stall the economic progress of the state.
He said he had also urged the Centre to resolve with China the long-pending issue of stapled visa.
“The stapled visa row is proving to be a bottleneck for Arunachalees who would like to go to the neighbouring countries like China for sports, cultural and educational activities. And at the same time the security scenario in the state is grim as Maoists have started infiltrating jungles of the state,” he added. (PTI)
