NEW DELHI: After a hotline exchange with the Indian Army, China’s People’s Liberation Army has indicated that they would soon hand over the missing youth from Arunachal Pradesh, law minister Kiren Rijiju said on Wednesday.
“The delay was attributed to bad weather conditions on their (Chinese) side,” the minister said while giving details of the exchange between the officials of Indian Army and PLA on the occasion of the Republic Day. He said the PLA has assured that the date, time and place of release of the youth would be intimated soon.
Earlier, Rijiju had tweeted about the missing youth and said the Indian Army had approached the PLA sharing with them a picture of the boy with other details. “We are constantly following the case from day one. I appeal to everyone to be cautious in making statements which are not based on facts because the safety and return of our youth from Arunachal Pradesh is priority,” he said.
Miram Taron, 19-year old from Jido village in Upper Siang district, went missing on January 18 near Shiyung La (Bishing area) bordering the Line of Actual Control. After the Indian Army approached PLA, the Chinese side assured that “they would search the individual and return him as per established protocol”, the minister had said.
On January 20, the Chinese side had informed the Indian Army officials that they had found an Indian boy on their side and requested for further details to establish his identity. The report of the missing boy first came to light when Arunachal East MP Tapir Gao wrote on Twitter on January 19 that a youth was abducted from inside the Indian territory.