Muslim organisation protests China including Arunachal Pradesh in its map

GUWAHATI: Members of the Islamic Association for Peace (IAP), on Saturday (February 10), protested the ‘wrong inclusion’ of the Northeast state of Arunachal Pradesh in its standard map.

The members of the IAP staged demonstration in front of the Chinese consulate at Salt Lake in 24 North Parganas in West Bengal.

The organisation also protested against alleged persecution of Uyghur Muslims by China.

Why China stakes claim over Arunachal Pradesh?

Arunachal Pradesh is one of the eight Northeast states of India.

Arunachal Pradesh shares an 1129 km long international border with China.

Arunachal Pradesh was formed from the erstwhile Northeast Frontier Agency (NEFA) region.

Arunachal Pradesh became a full-fledged state of India on February 20, 1987.

China continues to stake claim on the whole of Arunachal Pradesh, calling it “South Tibet” (Zangnan).

China have been staking claims over Arunachal Pradesh over the years as it has cultural and historical links to Tibet.

China, time and again, brings forward fictitious maps depicting Arunachal Pradesh as China’s part to strengthen its claim over the Indian state.

Furthermore, China also engages in ‘renaming’ locations in Arunachal Pradesh.

Recently, China released fresh names for 11 locations in the state of Arunachal Pradesh.

China makes use of its claim over Arunachal Pradesh as a strong bargaining chip to make India recognize Aksai Chin as a territory of China.

Even after 1962 war, China pulled back from Arunachal Pradesh (then NEFA) but held the Aksai Chin.

As a bargaining chip, in case China gets successful in acknowledging Aksai Chin as a territory of China, it is going to consider Arunachal Pradesh as part to India.

However, despite several efforts by China, India has kept a strong resolve in rejecting all of China’s claims and holding that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of the territory of India.