NEW DELHI: Amidst escalating tension in the border in Ladakh sector, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Monday confirmed that five civilians, who went missing from Arunachal Pradesh last week, have been traced on their side and they would be handed over soon.
Union minister Kiren Rijiju said in a tweet that PLA, which initially denied any knowledge about the missing youths, has since acknowledged their presence in Chinese territory.
“Further modalities to hand over the persons to our authority are being worked out,” Rijiju said.
China first denied that it had no knowledge about the “so-called” five missing Indian youths. It even refused to accept the whole of Arunachal Pradesh as India’s territory and claimed its own as a part of south Tibet.
The five civilians, who had gone missing on Friday from the Upper Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh, were working as porters and guides for the Indian Army. There were earlier reports that said they went for hunting, lost their way and then they were abducted by the PLA.
Incidentally, in the midst of the ongoing tension with China, the Indian Army has helped three Chinese nationals including a woman who lost their way at the higher reaches of the Tibetan plateau. The trio was travelling in a car and reached northern Sikkim by mistake.
The incident came to light when Congress MLA from the state, Ninong Ering, in his tweet, attached screenshots from Facebook by one Prakash Ringling who wrote that his brother and four others were abducted by the PLA on the Indo-China border.
Tapir Gao, the other MP from Arunachal Pradesh, also made similar revelations.