New Delhi
21 November 2007
On a day when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met with his
Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Singapore, the Rajya
Sabha rallied behind a member of Parliament from Arunachal Pradesh who wanted to
know why New Delhi is silent on the ingression by Chinese Army into the north-eastern
Indian state and how it intends to respond to the demolition of a Buddha statue there.
"We feel insecure. We are told negotiations with China are taking place but nobody's
giving us the details. Why are we being kept in the dark?" Mr Nabam Rebia of the
Congress party said in an emotional appeal. Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the
Rajya Sabha, the 45-year-old MP fom Arunachal Pradesh asked New Delhi to clarify its
stand on the boundary question with China. All the members of the House associated
with his intervention.
Mr Rebia told this newspaper later in the day that the ingression by the Chinese Army is
an insult to the Indian nation as it came close on the heels of a flag meeting between the
two armies. "It is an insult, it was a total violation ... the flag meeting was not honoured,"
he said, adding that the Chinese Army demolished a Buddha statue at Bumla in Tawang
district of the state as recently as October 30.
The MP was equally critical of the Indian Army. "Without any resistance, they shifted the
statue [elsewhere]," he said. He feared that the international community will see
Arunachal Pradesh as a disputed territory if New Delhi remained silent. "That is our
concern," he said, adding that the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh has since written
a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in order to draw his attention to recent
developments in his state.
Nabam Rebia's remarks come on a day when the Ministry of External Affairs said that
Prime Minister Singh told Premier Jiabao in Singapore that India is resolved to ensuring
the comprehensive development of bilateral relations for mutual benefit and on the basis
of mutual sensitivity to each others' concerns. "They reiterated their readiness to see a
fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary question and
expressed satisfaction at the progress that is being made by the special representatives
in this regard," the Ministry said.
New Delhi said that Premier Wen was forthcoming and supportive of international civil
nuclear energy cooperation with India. "Premier Wen conveyed that the Chinese
Government and people were eagerly awaiting the visit of Prime Minister to China. Prime
Minister said that he is looking forward to his visit early next year, and expressed his
confidence that his visit will further strengthen the friendly relations between the peoples
of the two countries," the Ministry added.
China illegally claims about 90,000 sq km of Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh and
about 2,000 sq km in the Middle Sector of the India-China boundary. China also is in
occupation of about 38,000 sq km of Indian territory in Jammu and Kashmir. In addition,
under the so-called China-Pakistan Boundary Agreement of 1963, Pakistan illegally
ceded 5,180 sq km of Indian territory in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir to China.
In June 2003, India and China agreed to appoint a special representative to explore from
the political perspective of the overall bilateral relationship the franework for a boundary
settlement. There have been 11 meetings of the special representatives -- National
Security Adviser MK Narayanan and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo -- so far.
Both countries decided to set up a working group on the boundary question after Minister
of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee visited China last month. Joint Secretary (East Asia)
Vijay Gokhale is expected to head the working group on the Indian side.
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