New Delhi, Oct 25 (IANS) Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat Sunday said that Arunachal Pradesh is a part of India and hoped Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao would iron out the contentious border issue.
Addressing a press conference after a party central committee meeting here, Karat in reply to a query on China claiming the northeastern state as its territory, said: “As far as our stand is concerned, Arunachal Pradesh is part of India.

“Now, how do you proceed to solve the long standing dispute. There is a mechanism evolved by both the governments which is being carried forward by successive governments,” he told reporters.

He hoped that the talks between Manmohan Singh and Wen in Thailand on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit would help resolve the border issue.

On the Maoists’ abduction of a West Bengal police officer and the state government’s swap of jailed women in exchange for the cop, Karat tried to sidestep the queries.

He merely said: “Those people who were released were ordinary people and had been mobilised by the Maoists. Our job is to politically isolate the Maoists. We have decided to conduct a vigorous campaign against the Maoists.”

He said the situation in Maoist affected Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand is “very serious”. “The government should deal with the real problem of the tribal people.”

Asked about complaints about irregularities in the voters’ list in Kannur constituency, where an assembly by-poll is slated Nov 7, he said the issue is being examined.