Won’t let even an inch of land be encroached: Shah in Arunachal

Guwahati: From Arunachal Pradesh, Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday sent out a strong message to China, saying India would not allow even an inch of its territory to be encroached upon, drawing an angry response from Beijing which called the minister’s visit to the state violative of its sovereignty and harmful to peace in border areas.
“Due to the bravery of soldiers of our Army and ITBP, no one can challenge the borders of our country. The time is gone when anyone could encroach on our land. Now, not even land equal to ‘sui ki nok’ (needlepoint) can be encroached on. Our policy is clear. We want to live in peace with all but will not allow even an inch our land to be encroached upon,” said Shah while launching the ‘Vibrant Villages Programme’ (VVP) at Kibithoo, India’s first village near the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh’s Anjaw district.
“Our policy is clear. We want to live in peace with all but will not allow even an inch our land to be encroached upon,” he added.
At a media briefing in Beijing, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said, “Zangnan is part of China’s territory. The activity of the senior Indian official in Zangnan violates China’s territorial sovereignty and is not conducive to peace and tranquillity in the border areas. We are firmly against this.” Zangnan is the Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh.
Shah’s visit to the state followed a diplomatic flare-up over India’s G20 meeting in Arunchal’s capital of Itanagar and the subsequent renaming by Beijing of some villages to reinforce its claim over the state it claims as part of south Tibet.
Shah’s strong words came a week after China released a list of “standardised names” of 11 places in Arunachal. These newly named places, which MEA described as ‘invented names’, turned out to be forest land, non-existent rivers and nondescript mountain tops.