Guwahati: More than 350 Tibetan locals in Arunachal Pradesh took out a protest rally Wednesday in Miao town of Changlang district against China’s recent attempts to “standardise” places within the Indian territory.
On Sunday, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs announced ‘standardising’ the names of 11 places of Arunachal Pradesh in ‘Zangnan’, a new name for Southern Tibet. Beijing refers to Arunachal Pradesh as Southern Tibet.
New Delhi rejected promptly China’s attempt to rename 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh, saying the state has been and will always be “an integral and inalienable part of India”.
Dressed in traditional dress Chupa and Bonsui, members of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress (RYTC) and Tibetan Women Association (TWA) took out a protest rally at about 9 a.m., carrying the Indian tricolour and the yellow Tibetan flag.
The rally started from the Miao Tibetan camp and passed through the main thoroughfare, before culminating in Miao Town at around 12 noon.
Protesters displayed banners and wore placards around their necks that read, ‘Arunachal will always remain an integral part of India’, ‘We stand by India’ and ‘Arunachal is not a part of China’. A banner read — “What do you think? The conspiracy hatched by China to take away Arunachal will ever succeed?”
“We strongly condemn the Chinese government’s attempt to tamper with names of places in Arunachal Pradesh, including our mountains and rivers. It’s revolting,” said Tamdem Dorjee, president of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, Miao.
Among the 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing announced in its move to standardise names in Zangnan, three are reportedly close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC). While Pangchen is a village in Zimithang Circle, Chakmutse Gangri is near Taksing in Upper Subansiri and Goyul Thang is a tiny flat ground near Kaho on Lohit river.
A week after China’s brazen attempt, Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited Kibithoo in the easternmost sector of Arunachal Pradesh, and referred to it as the country’s “first village, from where India begins.”
Launching the ‘Vibrant Villages Programme’ at Kibithoo, Shah reiterated Monday the government’s commitment to border security and enhancing border infrastructure. The timing was seen as a fitting response to Beijing’s objective.
“Our policy is clear, we want peace with everyone. But not an inch of our territory can be transgressed, and there can be no compromise on the integrity of our soldiers and our borders,” Shah said.
“No one can dare to challenge us today or transgress our boundaries. It is because of the patriotism of the people of Arunachal Pradesh that the ones who dared to cross into our territory in 1962 had to return,” he added.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: AFSPA has been lifted from more parts of northeast, but expert says ‘handle with care’