Arunachal Pradesh begins cracking down on illegal immigrants from China

• In the past few years, villagers have been migrating to Itanagar and other urban areas to find decent jobs.
• In an attempt to prevent the exodus of people from adjacent areas of the Indo Tibet border, MLAs of Arunachal Pradesh have come together to set up a forum to restrict people migrating from the border areas.
• China had claimed the Arunachal Pradesh as a part of its territory in the south Tibet region.
• Chinese troops on the Indo-Tibet border will be cracked down by Arunachal Pradesh.

In an attempt to prevent the exodus of people from adjacent areas of the Indo Tibet border, MLAs of Arunachal Pradesh have come together to set up a forum to restrict people migrating from the border areas. The MLAs who represent constituencies that lie along India’s border with China have decided to constitute a committee as the residents of these constituencies reported violations by Chinese troops.

In the past few years, villagers have been migrating to Itanagar and other urban areas to find decent jobs. Thus, these border areas have remained backwards because of rugged geographical factors.

However, the MLAs met at Itanagar on Saturday to discuss the problem along the Indo-Tibet border including migration and to propose a developmental framework to mitigate the problem.

The newly formed forum “Indo-China Border Development Legislators of Arunachal Pradesh” is aimed at formulating plans and strategies to tackle the issues and develop the backward areas along the Indo-Tibet border region.

Passang Dorjee Sona, the chairman of the committee said, “The border residents lack basic amenities and they tend to migrate to urban areas for a better life. The only way we can check their migration is by giving them opportunities through development initiatives.”

The local residents living near the border who were considered as India’s first line of defence in the past reported Chinese infractions to the security forces. However, the MLAs representing their respective border constituencies through the forum recognised the urgent need to prevent this influx of people from the border areas which might trigger Chinese infiltration.

Earlier, China had claimed the Arunachal Pradesh as a part of its territory in the South Tibet region. It had also denied having any information on the five missing youths of the frontier state who were allegedly abducted by the PLA.

Chinese state-run daily, Global Times, had said in a tweet “China has never recognized so-called #ArunachalPradesh,” which is China’s south Tibet region, and we have no details to release yet about the question on #Indian army sending a message to PLA about five missing Indians in the region: Chinese FM spokesperson Zhao Lijian.”

China, which is aiming at encroaching the Indian land by the transgression of Chinese troops on the Indo-Tibet border, will be cracked down by Arunachal Pradesh. With such a move, Arunachal Pradesh Government is setting an example for states like West Bengal who are actively promoting illegal migration from Bangladesh for political gains.