NEW DELHI, Nov 19: Please don’t allow the next Doklam in Arunachal Pradesh as China has encroached more than 50 kms of land of the state, BJP member Tapir Gao claimed in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
“Whenever the president, the prime minister, the defence minister or home minister visits the state, objections are raised by China,” Gao said, raising the issue during zero hour.
He said China raised objections by conducting an official press conference when Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited Tawang on 14 November.
“I request the house and media to voice protest against this,” the MP from Arunachal said.
“If a repeat of Doklam takes place, it will happen in Arunachal Pradesh because China has encroached 50-60 kms of the state,” he claimed.
Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day standoff in Doklam, near Sikkim, last year after the Indian side stopped the building of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army.
Indian troops intervened to stop the road as it posed a security risk to the Chicken Neck, the narrow corridor connecting India with its northeastern states.
The standoff ended on 28 August, 2017, following a mutual agreement under which China stopped the construction of the road and India withdrew its troops.
This is not the first time that Gao has made the claim.
In September this year, the MP had claimed that the Chinese Army intruded into Arunachal’s remote Anjaw district and constructed a bridge over a stream.
However, union minister Kiren Rijiju had later insisted that there was absolute peace on the Sino-India border along his home state of Arunachal.
“There is absolutely no problem. There is peace along the border,” he had said.
Explaining the circumstances, Rijiju had said, “When there is no demarcation of boundary, so if their (Chinese) army comes in, we say intrusion. When our forces go that side, they call it intrusion.”
India and China share a nearly 4,000-km border, which is not clearly demarcated, leading to incursions by the two sides into each other’s territory. (PTI)
