Missing since ’22, two Arunachal men were last sighted along China border

New Delhi, August 4
Two men from Arunachal Pradesh, missing for nearly two years after they disappeared from a remote area along the India-China border, are believed to be in the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) custody but the Chinese military has not confirmed their presence.
Batelum Tikro, 35, and his cousin, Bainsi Manyu, 37, went missing on August 19, 2022, while looking for medicinal herbs in a high-altitude region of the Chaglagam area in the state’s Anjaw district. Extensive searches have yielded no information about their whereabouts. Families and local authorities continue to seek answers, raising concerns about the security and safety of individuals in border areas.
“I have come to know that they were detained by the Chinese army,” Tikro’s brother Dishanso Chikro said. Chikro said he has approached local army authorities several times to seek information about his brothers. “I am told that the issue was raised by the Indian Army with their Chinese counterparts. But no response has come so far,” he said.
Anjaw MLA and state’s Women and Child Development Minister Dasanglu Pul confirmed that the duo went missing along the border with China while looking for medicinal herbs. “The Chinese side has not yet acknowledged that the youths are in their custody. But I am told that they are still alive,” she said.
After the two went missing, Chikro lodged two complaints of missing persons at Hayuliang police station on October 9, 2022. It was mentioned in the complaints that “some fellow villagers might have last seen them at border areas on August 24, 2022” but since then there has been no sign of the whereabouts of the duo”.
Anjaw Zila Parishad Chairman Soblem Pul said he has come to know that the local Army authorities raised the issue of the two men with the Chinese army at the flag meetings held along the border. “I have no idea what was the response of the Chinese side at the flag meetings,” he said. — PTI