ITANAGAR, 19 Jun: Reacting to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s recent tweet, wherein he said that Kimin was part of Assam, and a national news channel subsequently echoing the same erroneous information, the Tañw Supuñ Dukuñ (TSD), an apex council of the Apatani community, termed it “an unfortunate and immature statement which has undermined the local ownership and sentiments of the entire state.”
The TSD in a press release on Saturday said, “Kimin ADC headquarters in Arunachal Pradesh is hardly 40 minutes’ drive from the state capital Itanagar, sharing contiguous area almost as an extended part of capital region. Hence, declaring Kimin as a part of Assam without going through constitutional mandate and notification of the State Reorganization Act in presence of high constitutional authorities and representatives is really confusing. The land where BRO and ITBP camps are located at Kimin was donated by forefathers of local Arunachalees without any compensation for the sake of the wellbeing of the country and its security. This has been blatantly ignored and disrespected, which is not appreciated at all.”
The TSD also denounced the central authorities of the RTC ITBP and the BRO for covering up the name ‘Arunachal Pradesh’ with a white paste on various signboards in their camp which is within the boundary of Arunachal.
“Such act in the pretext of security reasons is unwarranted, for there can be no strategic issues as international border is in far distance after crossing six major districts. Further, chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh through his social media tool made clear statement that the said programme is in Kimin, Arunachal Pradesh. Minister of sports-cum-member of parliament, west constituency, Arunachal Pradesh and local MLA were also present as local representatives of the area. Such misleading information will not only send a wrong message to public at large but exhibit insensitivity on the issue and may fuel up already vexed boundary issues between Arunachal Pradesh and Assam who are now living peacefully like good neighbours,” the TSD stated.
It urged the officials and the channels concerned to “amend their previous statements and issue correct information for the benefit of the public and record.”
