GUWAHATI: After having waited for more than six years, the family of Tapor Pullom has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring back home the Arunachal Pradesh man, who was allegedly captured by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
The recent release of Miram Taron by the PLA has rekindled the hopes of Pullom’s family. “We are convinced by Miram’s release that PM Modi can bring him back home. We have high expectations from him,” the missing man’s daughter-in-law Amoni Diru told The New Indian Express on Thursday.
“Ours is an old case but please help us by bringing him back, alive or dead. A part of his body will also do. We can then perform the last rites and say goodbye to him peacefully,” Amoni, who is pursuing LLB, said.
The family hails from Monigong in Shi Yomi district.
Pullom was captured by the Chinese soldiers in September 2015 when he and his friend Taka Yorchi had ventured into a forest near the fuzzy India-China border for hunting. Yorchi had managed to escape.
“We searched for him for seven days but got no trace of him. In due course, we had approached the Indian Army as well as the local administration but they expressed helplessness,” Amoni said.
The family had also taken up the matter with the then Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju when he visited Monigong in November 2015 for border inspection.
“We had submitted a memorandum to him seeking his help. He told us to not worry assuring us that the Government of India will look into it. We kept waiting and months rolled by. In 2016, we tried again but those in authority advised us not to make a hue and cry or else the PLA will take his life,” Amoni said.
Pullom has five children, including three daughters. His wife died in 2014. The family believes he is still alive.
“Our people enter the forests for their daily needs. Hunting is not illegal in our state but there is prohibition in some places,” Amoni said.
On January 18 this year, 17-year-old Miram was captured by the PLA from near the Line of Actual Control when he and one of his friends, who managed to escape, entered deep into a forest in the state’s Upper Siang district. He was released on January 27.