Denied Food, Denied Google: Inside The ‘Ludicrous’ Horror Show At Shanghai Airport Over Arunachal Pradesh | World News
On November 21, a UK-based Indian national from Arunachal Pradesh faced an 18-hour ordeal at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport when Chinese immigration officials reportedly deemed his Indian passport “invalid” for listing Arunachal Pradesh as his place of birth. The incident sparked a strong diplomatic protest in India, which called the reasons for the detention “ridiculous”.
Prema Wangjom Thongdok, a financial advisor originally from Rupa in Arunachal Pradesh’s West Kameng district, was transiting from London to Japan via Shanghai when immigration officials singled her out.
Allegations of Ridicule and Denial of Fundamental Rights
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Thongdok recalled the nightmare and said immigration police and China Eastern Airlines officers repeatedly made fun of him and asked if he was really a Chinese citizen.
‘Passport Invalid‘: Officials claimed that Arunachal Pradesh is “Chinese territory” and hence the Indian passport is not a valid travel document.
Abuse: “When I tried to question them, they said ‘Arunachal is not part of India’ and started mocking, laughing and saying things like ‘You should apply for a Chinese passport, you are Chinese, not Indian’.” Thongdok told news agency ANI.
Denial of Facilities: The former transit passenger claimed that the police confiscated his passport, prevented him from accessing food for hours, and denied access to information on the grounds that “there is no Google in China.” He was also denied boarding despite having a valid Japanese visa.
Thongdok pointed out how ironic this was, considering that he himself passed through the same airport without incident a year ago.
India Intervenes: Strong Demarche Released
After spending hours in jail, Thongdok managed to contact his friends in the United Kingdom, who conveyed his distress to India’s diplomatic missions.
Consular assistance: “I called the Indian embassies in Shanghai and Beijing and within an hour the Indian officials arrived at the airport, brought me some food and helped me get out of the country by talking to them about their problems,” he said.
India has hit out at Beijing, calling the detention sites “ridiculous”. “Arunachal Pradesh is undisputedly Indian territory and its residents have the right to hold and travel with Indian passports,” the Indian consulate in Shanghai said.
Officials also noted that China’s actions violated the Chicago and Montreal Conventions on civil aviation. Thongdok eventually had to rebook his trip, flying via Thailand with China Eastern Airlines.
He has since written to the Ministry of External Affairs, demanding that the matter be treated forcefully as “a direct challenge to India’s sovereignty” and seeking compensation for his “harassment, distress and financial losses”.
READ ALSO | ‘Arunachal Pradesh is an Indispensable Part of India’: India Tells China About Detention in Shanghai
