Who is Prema Thongdok, Indian woman allegedly detained at Shanghai airport

Prema Wangjom Thongdok alleged harassment at the Shanghai airport during her three-hour layover, with authorities calling her Indian passport 'invalid'

Prema Wangjom Thongdok, an Indian citizen, alleged harassment at Shanghai airport after the authorities discovered that she was from Arunachal Pradesh, and termed her Indian passport "invalid".

 

Who is Prema Wangjom Thongdok?

 

Prema Wangjom Thongdok is an Indian citizen, hailing from Arunachal Pradesh's Rupa in West Kameng district, who has been residing in the UK for the last 14 years. According to her LinkedIn profile, Thongdok has studied at Delhi University's Shri Ram College of Commerce and graduated with a BA in Economics (Hons) degree. She also has an MSc degree in International Business from the UK's University of Hertfordshire.

 

Why was Prema Wangjom Thongdok stopped?

 

According to reports, Thongdok, on Monday, said that she was travelling from London to Japan and had a layover in Shanghai. Narrating her ordeal to the news agency ANI, she added that officials stopped her at Shanghai airport for nearly 18 hours, she was made fun of, and was even asked to apply for a Chinese passport.

 

Speaking to ANI, Thongdok said that she was singled out from a queue by a female immigration official and told that her passport was invalid. She added, "One of the officials from the Chinese immigration came over and singled me out of the queue. I asked her what was happening, and she went on to say, 'Arunachal- not India, China-China, your visa is not acceptable. Your passport is invalid... When I tried to question them and ask them what the issue was, they said, 'Arunachal is not part of India' and started mocking and laughing and saying things like 'you should apply for the Chinese passport, you're Chinese, you're not Indian'... I have transited through Shanghai in the past with no issues at all."

 

Thongdok claimed that she could not get in touch with her family members for a very long time. "The airline staff of China Eastern and about two other immigration officers were speaking in their language and saying and pointing out and saying Arunachal and laughing and calling it China, not India. That was a very humiliating, questionable behaviour from the immigration staff as well as the airline staff," she further alleged.

 

"I called up the Shanghai and Beijing Indian embassies, and within an hour, the Indian officials came to the airport, got me some food and spoke through the issues with them and helped me get out of the country. A very long ordeal, 18 hours, but glad that I'm out of there. I had my Indian passport, which is a valid document," Thongdok told ANI.

 

India's response to Thongdok's alleged harassment

 

After the episode, India conveyed a strong message to Beijing that Arunachal Pradesh is “indisputably” part of India and that people from the state are fully entitled to carry and use Indian passports, government sources said, news agency PTI reported.

 

The alleged incident came amid China’s long-standing and repeated assertions that Arunachal Pradesh is part of what it calls “South Tibet.” India has continually dismissed these claims, maintaining that the state is an integral and inseparable part of the country.