U.S. group expresses concern over highway projects at WWII crash sites in Arunachal
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It says resting locations of 400 American army aviators who lie unburied may very well be disturbed
A U.S.-based advocacy group has expressed concern that projects in Arunachal Pradesh such because the proposed Frontier Highway alongside the India-Tibet border would disturb the resting locations of 400 U.S. army aviators who lie unburied at World War II crash sites throughout the State.
The group, Families and Supporters of America’s Arunachal Missing in Action, represents the kindred of the U.S. aviators who by no means returned from their missions throughout the japanese Himalayas for wartime emergencies. The U.S. Defense Department had in 2004 estimated that 400 American army aviators had crashed to their deaths in present-day Arunachal Pradesh.
Reacting to an interview of Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu in The Puucho, the advocacy group’s founder-chairman Gary Zaetz stated: “We are very concerned that the government of India will not be taking the necessary precautions to avoid disturbing these crash sites, which are the temporary resting places of our loved ones – temporary until India gives permission that all such crash sites may be recovered for human remains.”
Mr. Zaetz stated that the Indian authorities had been ignoring the group’s periodic complaints about not defending the identified crash sites from “looters and unscrupulous tour companies”. The U.S. authorities too had not heeded their complaints that the strain on India to guard the WWII crash sites was inadequate, he added.
“Now that the Frontier Highway (about 1,100 km) and the Trans-Arunachal Highway (1,600 km) projects are under way, our concerns that these construction efforts will disturb these crash sites, making recovery of our loved ones’ remains difficult or impossible, are multiplied,” Mr. Zaetz stated by way of e mail.
The group identified that worldwide legislation made it clear that India, like all different nations, was answerable for the safety of suspected places of lacking international servicemen inside their borders.
An Arunachal Pradesh authorities spokesperson stated care could be taken to not disturb the U.S. crash sites or relocate the stays of plane and aviators if discovered on the alignment of the highway projects. “We have written to the Centre on the need to preserve the crash sites. They are not giving permission for security reasons,” he stated.
Teams from the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency have undertaken just a few expeditions in the State to find the stays of the U.S. servicemen. The final of those was in 2016.
The U.S. Air Force flew help missions to China and South East Asia towards the Japanese military over Arunachal Pradesh over the past section of WWII (1943-45). Many of the ill-fated warplanes tried to fly throughout ‘The Hump’, a Bermuda Triangle-like stretch in the japanese finish of the Himalayas.
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