The government has decided to shift the frontier headquarters of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) from Meghalaya to Arunachal Pradesh, closer to the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The north-eastern headquarters, which is located at Shillong, will be shifted to Itanagar. “The area of operations of the ITBP is along the Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim border, so it is practical enough to shift the base to somewhere closer to the border.The headquarters in Meghalaya will not serve the purpose,” Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State for Home, told The Hindu . The ITBP has been based in Shillong since 2004.
Asked whether the shift was a message to China, Mr. Rijiju said: “It has been done only for operational reasons. There is nothing like that.”
It is to be seen how China will react to the decision to shift the office to Arunachal Pradesh.
