SRINAGAR, Sept 15: Jammu and Kashmir police will soon approach the Central Government for consular access from the Chinese embassy for deportation of three Chinese nationals, who intruded into Ladakh region on June 12.
The three — Salamo, Abdul Khaliq and Adil Thorsong — were brought here and efforts were made to question them using an interpreter as they know only Yarkandi language spoken in Xinjiang province of China, official sources said.
However, the sources said that it was difficult to find any links with terrorism in absence of a certified translator who could testify in the court of law later.
The three have been sent back to Leh with a request being made to Union Home Ministry to liaison with External Affairs Ministry for consular access to them and subsequent deportation, the sources said.
They were handed over to the Leh Police in the last week of August as they could not be brought down from Margo post in north of Ladakh because of bad weather. Finally, they were brought down by helicopter after Defence Ministry’s nod.
The Leh police handed them over to the anti-terror squad of the police for detailed questioning here.
During their preliminary questioning by central security agencies, they had told the interrogators about their dreams to enter India and earn money as they were facing acute poverty in their region.
The trio had claimed that they were driven out of their home due to extreme poverty and wanted to come to India after they saw in films that the country is a land of prosperity.
The youths, aged between 18 and 23, were arrested inside Indian territory on June 12 near Sultanchku.
The three had failed in giving a clear picture from where they had come as the nearest habitation across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was in north of Karakoram range.
There was a possibility that they could have entered through either Raki Nallah, Jeevan Nallah or north of Daulat Beig Oldie where Indian and Chinese troops had a face off for nearly 21 days from April 15 to May 5.
Besides this, apprehension was being expressed that the three could have been heading towards Pakistan occupied Kashmir which is barely 30km up north of the area from where they were apprehended.
The security agencies did not want to take any chances as the three belonged to the region in China which has seen some terror related incidents this year. (PTI)
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