Two men from Arunachal Pradesh have been missing for nearly two years after vanishing along the India-China border, with family members expressing concerns that they are being held by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Batelum Tikro (35) and his cousin Bainsi Manyu (37) went missing on August 19, 2022, while searching for medicinal herbs in the Chaglagam area of the Anjaw district.
The families of the missing men believe that they were detained by the Chinese army, which has not acknowledged their presence in its territory. “I have come to know that they were detained by the Chinese army,” said Tikro’s brother, Dishanso Chikro.
Despite multiple attempts to seek information from local army authorities, Dishanso has not received any updates about his brothers’ whereabouts.
He noted that the Indian Army has raised the issue with their Chinese counterparts, but no response has been forthcoming.
Anjaw MLA and State’s Women and Child Development Minister Dasanglu Pul confirmed the circumstances surrounding the duo’s disappearance.
“The Chinese side has not yet acknowledged that the youths are in their custody. But I am told that they are still alive,” she stated.
Following their disappearance, Chikro filed two missing persons complaints at the Hayuliang police station on October 9, 2022, but despite these efforts, there has been no sign of the men.
According to the complaints, fellow villagers last spotted Tikro and Manyu near the border on August 24, 2022. The two men are registered residents of the Anjaw district, with Tikro hailing from Doiliang and Manyu from Manyu Chiprogam.
Tikro is unmarried, while Manyu has a wife and two young children, raising concerns for their families during this prolonged period of uncertainty.
Local leaders have expressed their frustration over the lack of information regarding the men’s fate. Anjaw district Zila Parishad Chairman Soblem Pul mentioned that local Army authorities have raised the matter in flag meetings with the Chinese army, but details regarding the Chinese response remain unknown.
“The parents of the men keep telling us to do something. But we are helpless so far. We hope that they will return home safe and soon,” he stated.
This incident is not isolated, as residents of Arunachal Pradesh have gone missing along the border or been detained by the PLA in the past. However, most of these cases have seen the individuals return home within days or weeks.
The prolonged absence of Tikro and Manyu marks a troubling deviation from this pattern.
In September 2020, five youths from Arunachal Pradesh’s Upper Subansiri district were allegedly abducted by the PLA but were released about a week later. Similarly, in January 2022, a teenage boy named Miram Taron was reportedly taken by Chinese forces from the Upper Siang district and returned to Indian authorities nine days later.
The ongoing disappearance of the two cousins comes against the backdrop of a prolonged stand-off between the Indian Army and the PLA in eastern Ladakh, which has been ongoing since April 2020.
The Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China stretches 3,400 kilometres, encompassing several sensitive regions from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh.
India has consistently rejected China’s territorial claims over Arunachal Pradesh, reaffirming that the state is an integral part of the country. China, referring to Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet, frequently objects to visits by Indian leaders to the region.
The Chinese government has also sought to assert its claims by renaming areas within Arunachal Pradesh, which India has dismissed as an attempt to distort reality.
As the families of Tikro and Manyu continue to grapple with uncertainty, there is mounting pressure on local authorities and the Indian government to take decisive action.
Their hope for a resolution remains high as they await any updates regarding the missing men’s status.
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