Indo-China border: Did India give up Arunachal's ‘Shera 5’ after 2023 skirmish?

Few Indians would have believed that, after Galwan in Ladakh in 2020, India had ceded more territory in Arunachal Pradesh to China when a 'Goodbye India' video by an Arunachal Pradesh-based content creator surfaced on social media a week before Independence Day, warning about alleged Chinese encroachment and infrastructure build-up in the state. Congress media & publicity chief Pawan Khera amplified the video, giving the claims a wider national audience..

The government and the ministries of defence and external affairs were quick to refute the claim as misleading. Yet reports from Arunachal Pradesh continue to raise concerns over alleged loss of access in the Taksing area, with the All Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union (AAPSU) set to undertake a 'Taksing Chalo, Bharat Bachao' tour of the disputed border area on Saturday, 15 August, to hoist the national flag, The Hindu reported.

"People and youth of Arunachal Pradesh will not accept any attempt to undermine the country's territorial integrity," AAPSU president Meje Taku was quoted as saying.

The statement came after a fact-finding report by the People's Party of Arunachal (PPA), which alleged that Chinese soldiers had taken over a patrolling point that had been abandoned by the Indian Army in 2023. The Nah Welfare Society, an organisation representing a tribe living near the international border, has also been flagging alleged Chinese occupation of Indian territory in the area.

The PPA said its four-member team, led by former minister Kahfa Bengia, reached the disputed area on 10 July and interacted with local residents and Army personnel stationed in Taksing, Maza and Galemo.

Local residents told the team that the Indian Army had not returned to Shera-5, a border patrolling point, after a 2023 confrontation between the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the Arunachal Scouts, a specialised mountain infantry unit of the Indian Army based in the state.

'The PLA came back, destroyed and dismantled the symbolic remains of the Indian patrolling troops at Shera-5 Point. Since then, the Indian patrolling units have been denied access to the point by the PLA,' the PPA said in a statement. 'Regular patrolling is done between April and October and discontinued for the rest of the months due to inclement or hostile weather with heavy snowfall, while the PLA continues patrolling throughout the year.'

The allegations, however, have been denied by the Indian Army, which in June described reports of recent Chinese encroachment and the setting up of camps in Arunachal Pradesh as "incorrect and without any basis". Arunachal Pradesh home minister Mama Natung subsequently dismissed reports of Chinese encroachment in Taksing as "lies and social media rumours".

Retired IAS officer and former Union home secretary Raj Kumar Singh flagged the issue on 12 August after reading a report in The Times of India and sought answers from the prime minister and defence minister over reports that the Indian Army had abandoned Shera-5 in the Taksing area.

In a video post, the former home secretary said he had worked for eight years in the defence ministry and seven years in the home ministry and was familiar with some aspects of the border dispute. The Indian Army, he alleged, would not abandon a patrolling point without the knowledge and consent of the prime minister and the defence minister.

Singh pointed out that China does not accept the McMahon Line as the boundary and has also resisted demarcation of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), in part because of its expansive territorial claims. Patrolling points, he explained, serve as markers of each side's perceived territorial claims.

"Our patrols go up to points along our perceived Line of Actual Control and Chinese patrols come up to patrolling points along their perceived Line of Actual Control... that's why patrolling up to these points is essential, so that our claim line is specifically communicated to the other side," he said.

"The defence minister and prime minister need to answer how many patrolling points have been abandoned since 2014," the former home secretary said.

The issue was raised by Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Thursday at a convention in New Delhi. On Friday, 14 August, Congress president and Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge also raised questions over the reports.

'After Galwan, now Arunachal Pradesh? This demands immediate answers from the Modi Govt. Has the PLA expanded its presence near Taksing and has India lost regular access to Shera-5, a designated Patrolling Point? Why is Indian patrolling reportedly limited during winter in this sensitive sector while the PLA maintains a year-round presence?' Kharge asked in a post on X.

The allegations have emerged amid broader indications that the India-China border remains a sensitive issue despite efforts to stabilise bilateral ties. On 11 August, the external affairs ministry said India considered matters relating to the border areas with China "most serious" and that maintaining peace and tranquillity along the LAC was "of utmost importance". It added that the state of border affairs would have a bearing on the overall trajectory of bilateral ties.

India and China held the 36th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on China-India Border Affairs in New Delhi on 6 August, with both sides agreeing to maintain communication through diplomatic and military channels and work to prevent "misunderstanding and miscalculation".

Asked about the reports of heightened activity along the border in Arunachal Pradesh, China's foreign ministry spokesperson did not specifically address the allegations. "The China-India border situation is generally stable at the moment," the spokesperson said, adding that the two sides had held the 36th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on China-India Border Affairs the previous week.

"The two sides agreed to maintain communication via diplomatic and military channels and jointly uphold peace and tranquillity in the border areas," the spokesperson said.