NEW DELHI:
Amid reports of China building infrastructure along the eastern frontier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be visiting Arunachal Pradesh on May 21 and 22 and will interact with Assam Rifles and Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel.
A senior official in the Home Ministry told The Meghalayan that on May 22, Shah will interact with ITBP and Assam Rifles officials.
ITBP and Assam Rifles besides Border Security Force (BSF) are the border guarding agency along the international border of India’s Northeastern States.
During his visit, Shah will also launch various developmental projects in Arunachal Pradesh worth Rs 1000 crore.
The visit and inauguration of multi crore projects in this border State by Shah comes against the backdrop of China’s desperate attempt to build infrastructure along their side of the border.
On the first day of his visit on May 21, Shah will attend Swarn Jayanti Utsav in Tirap district. “He will also be visiting Parshuram Kund in Lohit district,” said the official.
Shah had earlier in 2020, visited Arunachal Pradesh to attend its 34th Statehood day, the visit was, however, opposed by Beijing which claimed the Indian state as part of south Tibet.
Notably, China routinely objects to Indian leaders’ visits to the Northeastern State of Arunachal Pradesh to claim their right over it.
It is worth mentioning that the border dispute between India and China covers around 3,488 km long Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Meanwhile, ahead of his visit to Arunachal Pradesh, Shah, while addressing a seminar on ‘Revisiting The Ideas of India from Swaraj to New India’ at the Delhi University campus on May 19, said that his government has removed the Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) from 75 per cent of the Northeast region.
“Earlier there used to be agitations to remove AFSPA. But today due to the establishment of peace in the Northeast, we have removed AFSPA from 75 per cent of the Northeast,” Shah said.
“In the last 8 years, 9,000 cadres of armed groups from the Northeast have come into the mainstream by putting down their arms, and many agreements have been signed,” he said.
The annual report of the Home Ministry had also stated that insurgency related incidents in the Northeast had drastically come down.
As of now, AFSPA is applicable fully in 31 districts and partially in 12 districts of four states in the Northeast Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.