Dharamsala, February 3 – China’s repeated claims on the north eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh have angered students across the state where students are now targeting Beijing’s biggest economic weapon — exports, reported The Times of India.
All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (Aapsu), a powerful students’ group on Tuesday called for a boycott of Made-in-China goods from February 8.
“The boycott is necessary in the backdrop of repeated Chinese claims over Arunachal,” a written appeal from the students’ body’s president Takam Tatung said. “Our activists will visit every shop to identify commodities made in China,” it added.
The students’ body said “enough time’’ was given to remove Chinese goods after last month’s request by Arunachal Chamber of Commerce & Industries (ACCI).
“The Union government’s approach to the Chinese issue left a lot to be desired. One case in point is the alleged captivity of a certain Chabe Chader, a villager of Gumsing Taying in Upper Subansiri’s Taksing Circle area, by the Chinese army. Chader went missing from Asaphila border area on August 18, 2007,” the statement said.
The students had taken up the matter with the home ministry earlier and former Lok Sabha member Kiren Rijiju had also raised the issue in the Parliament. The then external affairs joint secretary, Ashok K Kantha, had said the matter was taken up through diplomatic channels as well as through flag meetings, border personnel meetings and the hotline at Bumla.
“However, till date there is no trace of Chader. This vindicates Aapsu’s fear that in case of China, the Union government can even forego the safety of innocent citizens of Arunachal,” Tatung alleged.
