Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Friday told the Assembly that the Narendra Modi-led dispensation at the Centre has been paying focused attention to the frontier state, ensuring the presence of adequate security forces to secure and protect the people’s life and country’s border in Arunachal Pradesh.
“From the time when the Chinese started claiming Arunachal Pradesh (as their own territory), the Government of India has since has been paying focused attention to secure and protect the people’s life and country’s border in Arunachal Pradesh, thereby deploying adequate Army and Armed Police Forces on the borders,” Khandu said while responding to a query raised by Congress member Ninong Ering in the House during ‘question hour’.
Stating that the matter relating to international border dispute is a Central subject and pertains to the Ministry of External Affairs, he said, “Being an Arunachalee, we all know the conditions over here, and how the neighbouring country is claiming Arunachal…The ‘realities’ are known to us. We share one of the longest borders with (China-occupied) Tibet, to be precise around 1,200 km.
Under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi our voice has started to be vocal in international level. Once there was a time that whatever agenda was made by China, the Indian Govt used to bow
down, but the present government will not bow down (under whatsoever the matter be),” Khandu said.
“We have seen many incidents. The way the Indian Armed Forces handled the Galwan Valley incident and recently, the one in Tawang sector at Yangtse is commendable. Located around 16,000 feet above the mean sea level, Yangtse, which comes under my constituency, is now accessible by road from two sides – thanks to the Centre’s focused attention on the development of border areas.”
Unlike the past, now lots of infrastructures have now been developed in the border areas in Arunachal Pradesh – whether it is in Kameng sector, Subansiri sector or eastern Arunachal’s Anjaw-Kibithoo or Dibang sector – thereby facilitating comfortable movement of the Defence forces, he said.
Khandu also mentioned that earlier when the leaders from Govt of India whether the President, Vice President, Prime Minister or the Defence Minister visit Arunachal China would object but now since last year, when the Prime Minister came and inaugurated the State’s first Greenfield airport on November 9 last and recently, President Droupadi Murmu visited Itanagar, there was no reaction
from the Chinese side. “That means we have gradually been achieving lots more diplomatically, asserting our presence at world level through the Ministry of External Affairs.”
“India under the leadership of PM Modi is now emerging as New India, in place of old India”,
Khandu remarked.
Earlier, the former Union Minister Ninong Ering, who sought to know details of border dispute with China along the international border in Arunachal including the present status of the ‘areas under question’, the reply of which was yet to reach, quizzed why Govt of India was not taking it (Chinese claims over Arunachal and recent incidents at Galwan valley and Tawang sector) seriously and not replying to queries sent. “Why the foreign country is getting involved with us.”
Citing the newspaper reports that “the United States says that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India or the BBC says (Arunachal’s) Tawang is an integral part of China”, Ering said, “Atleast this issue should be discussed and they (GOI) should take it up seriously.”
“We are Arunachalees, we are Indians and we are part of India. If foreign countries are to speak for us, why cannot the Govt of India reply to my questions?” the Congress MLA from Pasighat West constituency retorted.
