Indian soldiers go missing in US

Press Trust of India
Friday, March 28, 2008 (New Delhi)
Two Indian soldiers have gone missing during a joint exercise with United States troops last week in California. And with 10 days having passed by, Indian authorities are approaching the State Department for help in tracing them.The Army contingent involved in the joint exercise with American troops at Camp Pendleton in California, found that two of its men - Sanjay Mahato and Santosh Thapa - were missing, sources in the External Affairs Ministry said.The authorities then immediately got in touch with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) for assistance in locating the two men, who were being treated as ''absent without leave'', the sources said. They further added that assistance was also sought from the Indian Consulate in San Francisco, which took up the matter with the local State Department.The troops were participating in exercise ''Shatrujeet'' (victory over enemy).The exercise was part of expanding Indo-US defence cooperation and it was in 2005 that a team had gone to Camp Pendleton for the first time. In 2006, US Marines came to India for an exercise at Belgaum.

The blighters who ran away should be treated as traitors who betrayed the country's trust. Maybe it is a plot and others are involved.