Permit gaffé lets Chinese duo enter Arunachal Pradesh

GUWAHATI: In a major goof-up, two Chinese nationals were allowed to enter Arunachal Pradesh with wrong permits.

Citizens of China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan require Restricted Area Permit (RAP) issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to enter Arunachal Pradesh. Other foreign nationals need a Protected Area Permit (PAP) issued by the Arunachal Pradesh government.The two Chinese nationals were allowed to enter with PAP instead of the mandatory RAP .

The incident came to the notice nearly three weeks after expiry of the permit, which was recovered recently from a hotel in Bomdila in the frontier state.

A senior officer in the state government said that on August 30, PAP was issued to two Chinese nationals -Young James John and Wu Chong Shong who claimed to come from Hong Kong, said a senior officer of the state government.

They sought PAP to enter Tawang, West Kameng and Lower Subansiri districts for 30 days from September 12 to October 11.The permits were issued against tourist visa.

Tawang and West Kameng are sensitive and strategic spots of India. The officer said that the state government will order a probe into the incident.