The five Indian nationals who were allegedly abducted by the Chinese army from a bordering village in Arunachal Pradesh have been released by China. They returned to India on Saturday afternoon.
China has sent back the 5 men who went missing from the Arunachal borders. (Representative image)
The five Indian nationals who were allegedly abducted by the Chinese army from a bordering village in Arunachal Pradesh have been released by China. They returned to India on Saturday afternoon.
The five villagers from a remote village in Arunachal Pradesh have entered India with the Army personnel accompanying them. The handover took place at Wacha near Kibithu area in Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh on Saturday.
Indian Army has now taken the custody of all five men in Kibithu after completing all formalities. The individuals will now be quarantined for 14 days as per COVID-19 protocol and will thereafter be handed over to their families.
The PLA on Tuesday had conveyed that the five youths, who went missing on September 4 from the Sino-Indian border in Upper Subansiri district, were found by them across the border.
The incident of these 5 missing men came to light when two members from the group, who went hunting in the jungle, returned home and informed the families that they were whisked away by the Chinese troops from Sera-7, an Army patrol zone located about 12 km further north of Nacho.
Nacho is the last administrative circle along the McMahon line and is around 120 km from the district headquarters Daporijo.
Union minister Kiren Rijiju took up the matter and said the Indian army had sent a hotline message to the PLA establishment at the border point in Arunachal Pradesh and that a response is awaited. China has initially said they were unaware of any Indians who have gone missing in China.
The release of the 5 Indian nationals come amid the ongoing tension between India and China over the Ladakh border dispute where troops of the two countries have been engaged in a prolonged faceoff.
Tensions between India and China have been going on since April, which further escalated on August 29-30 when the Chinese troops tried to occupy forward Indian positions in Ladakh. In yet another incident, Chinese troops opened fire in the air, followed by a skirmish with the Indian troops.