Lawmaker demands Arunachal nominee for Sino-Indian border talks

Itanagar, Jan 17 (ANI): The relationship between India and China has never been cordial despite both civilizations having contacts dating back to several millennia, and it can again hit a bad phase following a demand to include a permanent representative from Arunachal Pradesh during the Sino-India border talks.

The demand was made even as the 15th Special Representatives is taking place in New Delhi and will conclude today.

The Indian and Chinese delegations, led by Shivshankar Menon and State Councillor Dai Bingguo, have discussed the Sino-India boundary question, besides talks on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest.

India has time and again conveyed to China that there should be no discrimination against visa applicants of Indian nationality on grounds of domicile and ethnicity, as Beijing decided to issue stapled visas to the people of Arunachal Pradesh.

Beijing uses this visa issue just to raise pith before any dialogue process.

China disputes the international boundary that it currently has with India in the eastern sector and has repeatedly staked a claim to approximately 90,000 square kilometres of Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh.

Member of Parliament Takam Sanjoy, who is the only representative from the North East region in the Parliamentary Standing Committee of External Affairs, told ANI on Tuesday that he had made this demand for inclusion of an Arunachal representative in the talks vociferously, as the Arunachal issue had dominated the meeting held on January 13. The meeting was also attended top External Affairs Ministry officials, including Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai.

"The issues related to Arunachal Pradesh are lingering on due to a lack of coordination between the ministries of External Affairs, Defence and Home," he told the Standing Committee members.

"The Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister or his representative should also represent New Delhi during the Sino-India border talks, as we have been part of India and let China know that there would be no compromise on the issue of Arunachal," he said.

Sanjoy made it clear to members of committee that China had stalled the Asian Development Bank loan worth Rs.396 crore and a World Bank loan of Rs.1713 crore to build the state capital of Itanagar and Sikkim, as part of their political strategy to stall the economic progress of Arunachal Pradesh.

He also asked the Central Government to resolve the long pending issue of stapled visas, and added that the energy and potential of young people should be utilized in such manner that they are not misguided to join the extremist outfits of the North East.

"The stapled visa row is proving to be a bottleneck for Arunachalees who would like to go to neighbouring countries like China for sports, cultural and educational activities. And at the same time the security scenario in Arunachal Pradesh is grim, as the Maoists have started infiltrating in the jungles of state.

"The security scenario in North East and particularly Arunachal is going to be quiet worse if not managed properly, as this will also have affect on national security in future," he said.

Taking note of the grim scenario in Arunachal Pradesh, the Chaiman of the Standing Committee of External Affairs, Ananth Kumar, extended the deliberation for two days, which will be held on January 19 and 20, and will also be attended by representatives of the defence, home and trade and commerce ministries. (ANI)