With China continuing to raise the heat on Dalai Lama&#39;s visit to India&#39;s north-eastern frontier state of Arunachal Pradesh, India&mdash;in a veiled but stern message&mdash;today said that no &ldquo;artificial controversy&rdquo; should be created around this visit and added that &ldquo;nobody should have any problem on the visit&rdquo;. India also took this opportunity to underline that the status of Arunachal Pradesh is &ldquo;indisputable&rdquo;.

&ldquo;When Dalai Lama is in Arunachal Pradesh, he will be confined only to religious matters. He is not there to make any political statement or he is not there with any political motive. So, unnecessary issues should not be raked up due to this visit,&rdquo; Union minister of state for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, who is also a Lok Sabha MP from Arunachal Pradesh, said today.

India&#39;s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), too, came out with a statement citing that the Tibetan spiritual leader, as per his website, had visited Arunachal Pradesh on six earlier occasions between 1983 and 2009.

&ldquo;The Government has clearly stated on several occasions that His Holiness Dalai Lama is a revered religious leader, who is deeply respected as such by the Indian people. No additional colour should be ascribed to his religious and spiritual activities and visits to various states of India. The Government, therefore, urges that no artificial controversy should be created around his present visit to Arunachal Pradesh,&rdquo; the MEA said.

Meanwhile, Rijiju said that Dalai Lama&#39;s visit to Arunachal Pradesh was in response to the &ldquo;wishes and appeals made by thousands of devotees&rdquo; and that during this visit, the Dalai Lama &ldquo;will be addressing, giving blessings to thousands of devotees in West Kameng district, Tawang district and Itanagar&rdquo;.

&ldquo;We have heard some comments from many quarters including the Chinese government. The people of Arunachal Pradesh desire to have a very good neighbourly relation with people with China. We never intend to have any kind of problem with our neighbours. India never interfered into the internal affairs of China. We also never questioned the Chinese sovereignty and India has respectfully adhered to One China policy. So we expect that China also should not interfere in our internal matters,&rdquo; Rijiju said.

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The Dalai Lama is on a visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims is part of Tibet (WION)
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The MoS also underlined that &ldquo;being a democratic and secular country, India cannot restrict or stop the visit or a programme of any religious leaders in our country&rdquo;.

&ldquo;The religious sentiments of every community must be given all freedom. That is why we expect that nobody should have any problem on the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh,&rdquo; he added.

Rijiju also stated that &ldquo;Arunachal Pradesh is not a disputed territory&rdquo;. &ldquo;We have certain issues with regard to delineation or the boundary on the spots on the ground along McMahon Line&nbsp;because it is not being demarcated on the ground. That is why there is a talk between the special representatives of India and China and I hope and the people of Arunachal Pradesh hope that an amicable solution can be reached in the foreseeable future,&rdquo; he added.

&ldquo;But the status of AP is indisputable. Being a full fledged state of the Union of India, Arunachal Pradesh&#39;s status cannot be questioned. The territorial integrity of Arunachal Pradesh as a part of Indian union cannot be questioned. People of Arunachal Pradesh are upset by some people showing it as disputed territory. On behalf of the people of Arunachal Pradesh, I would like to appeal to our Chinese friends not to rake up this issue because as a neighbour we intend to have&nbsp;normal relations with China.&rdquo;

Rijiju, who will be joining Dalai Lama in Arunachal Pradesh on April 5 and would accompany him for the next three days, further said that the state government had accorded Dalai Lama the status of a state guest and all the facilities for the entire arrangement of his visit are being arranged by the state govt.

He reiterated that India did not &ldquo;intend to have any kind of damage in the relationship&rdquo; with China and that it respects Chinese sovereignty and expected that China would respect India&#39;s sovereignty in return.

Dalai Lama, who is on a nine-day visit to Arunachal Pradesh, is slated to give a teaching and confer a White Tara Long Life Empowerment (drolkar tsewang) in the morning at the Buddha Park on April 5. On April 6, he will give teachings in Dirang on Geshe Langri Thangpa&#39;s Eight Verses of Training the Mind (lojong tsikgyema) &amp; Guru Yoga (lama neljor) and confer the Avalokiteshvara Permission (chenresig jenang) in the morning at Thupsung Dhargyeling Monastery. From April 8 to 10, he is scheduled to give teachings in Tawang. On the mornings of April 8 &amp; 9, the spiritual leader will give teachings on Kamalashila&#39;s The Middling States of Meditation (gomrim barpa) &amp; Gyalsey Thokme Sangpo&#39;s Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva (laklen sodunma) at Yiga Choezin. On the morning of April 10 morning, he will confer the Rinzin Dhondup Initiation at Yiga Choezin.

(WION)

India also took this opportunity to underline that the status of Arunachal Pradesh is 'indisputable'

With China continuing to raise the heat on Dalai Lama's visit to India's north-eastern frontier state of Arunachal Pradesh, India—in a veiled but stern message—today said that no “artificial controversy” should be created around this visit and added that “nobody should have any problem on the visit”. India also took this opportunity to underline that the status of Arunachal Pradesh is “indisputable”. “When Dalai Lama is in Arunachal Pradesh, he will be confined only to religious matters. He is not there to make any political statement or he is not there with any political motive. So, unnecessary issues should not be raked up due to this visit,” Union minister of state for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, who is also a Lok Sabha MP from Arunachal Pradesh, said today. India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), too, came out with a statement citing that the Tibetan spiritual leader, as per his website, had visited Arunachal Pradesh on six earlier occasions between 1983 and 2009. “The Government has clearly stated on several occasions that His Holiness Dalai Lama is a revered religious leader, who is deeply respected as such by the Indian people. No additional colour should be ascribed to his religious and spiritual activities and visits to various states of India. The Government, therefore, urges that no artificial controversy should be created around his present visit to Arunachal Pradesh,” the MEA said. Meanwhile, Rijiju said that Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh was in response to the “wishes and appeals made by thousands of devotees” and that during this visit, the Dalai Lama “will be addressing, giving blessings to thousands of devotees in West Kameng district, Tawang district and Itanagar”. “We have heard some comments from many quarters including the Chinese government. The people of Arunachal Pradesh desire to have a very good neighbourly relation with people with China. We never intend to have any kind of problem with our neighbours. India never interfered into the internal affairs of China. We also never questioned the Chinese sovereignty and India has respectfully adhered to One China policy. So we expect that China also should not interfere in our internal matters,” Rijiju said. The Dalai Lama is on a visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims is part of Tibet (WION) × The MoS also underlined that “being a democratic and secular country, India cannot restrict or stop the visit or a programme of any religious leaders in our country”. “The religious sentiments of every community must be given all freedom. That is why we expect that nobody should have any problem on the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh,” he added. Rijiju also stated that “Arunachal Pradesh is not a disputed territory”. “We have certain issues with regard to delineation or the boundary on the spots on the ground along McMahon Line because it is not being demarcated on the ground. That is why there is a talk between the special representatives of India and China and I hope and the people of Arunachal Pradesh hope that an amicable solution can be reached in the foreseeable future,” he added. “But the status of AP is indisputable. Being a full fledged state of the Union of India, Arunachal Pradesh's status cannot be questioned. The territorial integrity of Arunachal Pradesh as a part of Indian union cannot be questioned. People of Arunachal Pradesh are upset by some people showing it as disputed territory. On behalf of the people of Arunachal Pradesh, I would like to appeal to our Chinese friends not to rake up this issue because as a neighbour we intend to have normal relations with China.” Rijiju, who will be joining Dalai Lama in Arunachal Pradesh on April 5 and would accompany him for the next three days, further said that the state government had accorded Dalai Lama the status of a state guest and all the facilities for the entire arrangement of his visit are being arranged by the state govt. He reiterated that India did not “intend to have any kind of damage in the relationship” with China and that it respects Chinese sovereignty and expected that China would respect India's sovereignty in return. Dalai Lama, who is on a nine-day visit to Arunachal Pradesh, is slated to give a teaching and confer a White Tara Long Life Empowerment (drolkar tsewang) in the morning at the Buddha Park on April 5. On April 6, he will give teachings in Dirang on Geshe Langri Thangpa's Eight Verses of Training the Mind (lojong tsikgyema) & Guru Yoga (lama neljor) and confer the Avalokiteshvara Permission (chenresig jenang) in the morning at Thupsung Dhargyeling Monastery. From April 8 to 10, he is scheduled to give teachings in Tawang. On the mornings of April 8 & 9, the spiritual leader will give teachings on Kamalashila's The Middling States of Meditation (gomrim barpa) & Gyalsey Thokme Sangpo's Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva (laklen sodunma) at Yiga Choezin. On the morning of April 10 morning, he will confer the Rinzin Dhondup Initiation at Yiga Choezin. (WION)

Nobody should have any problem with Dalai Lama's Arunachal Pradesh visit, India says

India will receive Buddhist religious leader Dalai Lama during his trip to its north-eastern border state flanking China, Arunachal Pradesh, despite Beijing&#39;s warning that this will damage ties. China claims the state as its territory. New Delhi, on its part, has said&nbsp;India that as a secular democracy it will not stop him from travelling to any part of the country.

China has called visits by Indian and foreign leaders to the region an attempt by New Delhi to claim the territory. &nbsp;&nbsp;

In fact, India&#39;s junior internal minister Kiren&nbsp;Rijiju said that he will visit the Dalai Lama during his visit to the Tawang Buddhist monastery next month. The Dalai Lama is visiting the monastery after eight years. Rijiju, who is from Arunachal Pradesh and is Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi&#39;s man for Tibetan issues, said: &quot;He is going there as a religious leader, there is no reason to stop him. His devotees are demanding he should come, what harm can he do? He is a lama.&quot;

The Chinese consider the Dalai Lama a dangerous separatist, and his visit may ratchet up tensions at a time when New Delhi is at odds with China on strategic and security issues, and unnerved by Beijing&#39;s growing ties with arch-rival Pakistan.

The Modi&nbsp;government has been keen to increase its public engagement with the Tibetan leader, a significant moving away from India&#39;s earlier line of keeping him at an arm&#39;s length for fear of upsetting Beijing.

&quot;It&#39;s a behavioural change you are seeing. India is more assertive,&quot; Rijiju told Reuters in an interview.&nbsp;

&quot;The Dalai clique has for a long time carried out anti-China separatist activities and on the issue of the China-India border has a history of disgraceful performances,&quot; Chinese spokesperson&nbsp;Geng Shuang told a daily news briefing.

China investing nearby

While the Dalai Lama&#39;s current visit was initiated months in advance, and approval for the April 4-13 trip predates India&#39;s recent disagreements with China, the move to go ahead with the visit under the present circumstances points to the Modi government&#39;s willingness to use diplomatic tools at a time when China&#39;s economic and political clout across South Asia is growing.

China is helping to fund a new trade corridor across Pakistan, and has also invested in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, raising fears of strategic encirclement&nbsp;-- called a string of pearls by India and United States.

A Taiwanese parliamentary delegation&#39;s visit to Delhi last month, also angered&nbsp;Beijing, which regards Taiwan as an integral part of China. 
In December, President Pranab Mukherjee hosted the Dalai Lama at his official residence with other Nobel prize winners, the first public meeting with an Indian head of state in 60 years.

Some officials said India&#39;s approach to the Tibetan issue remained cautious, reflecting a gradual evolution in policy rather than a sudden shift, and Modi appears reluctant to go too far for fear of upsetting its large northern neighbour.

India&#39;s foreign secretary, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, was in Beijing last week on a visit that analysts said was aimed at stabilising relations between the world&#39;s most populous countries.

Tangible shift

That said, Modi&#39;s desire to pursue a more assertive foreign policy since his election in 2014 was quickly felt in contacts with China.

At one bilateral meeting early in his tenure, Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj asked her Chinese counterpart whether Beijing had a &quot;one India&quot; policy, according to a source familiar with India-China talks, a pointed reference to Beijing`s demand that countries recognise its &quot;one China&quot; policy.

&quot;One India&quot; would imply that China recognise India`s claims to Kashmir, contested by Pakistan, as well as border regions like Arunachal Pradesh.

India`s hosting of the Dalai Lama since he fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule has long irritated Beijing. But government ministers often shied away from regular public meetings with the Buddhist monk.

&quot;These meetings were happening before. Now it is public,&quot; Lobsang Sangay, head of the Tibetan government-in-exile based in the Indian town of Dharamsala, said in an interview.

&quot;I notice a tangible shift. With all the Chinese investments in all the neighbouring countries, that has generated debate within India,&quot; he said.

The chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, a member of Modi&#39;s Bharatiya Janata Party, met the Dalai Lama in New Delhi in October and officially invited him to visit the state.

On the Dalai Lama`s last visit in 2009, the state`s chief minister met him. This time he will be joined by federal minister Rijiju, a move the Chinese may see as giving the trip an official imprimatur.

New Delhi has been hurt by China&#39;s refusal to let it join the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the global cartel that controls nuclear commerce.

India has also criticised Beijing for stonewalling its request to add the head of a banned Pakistani militant group to a UN&nbsp;Security Council blacklist.

Rory Medcalf, Head of the National Security College at the Australian National University, said New Delhi appeared to have been surprised by China&#39;s inflexibility since Modi came to power, fuelling distrust in the Indian security establishment. 
 
&quot;India does feel that the cards are stacked against it and that it should retain and play the cards that it does have,&quot; he said. &quot;The Dalai Lama and Tibetan exile community is clearly one of those cards.&quot; 
 
(WION with inputs from Reuters)

Beijing warned the visit will damage ties as it regards the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist

India will receive Buddhist religious leader Dalai Lama during his trip to its north-eastern border state flanking China, Arunachal Pradesh, despite Beijing's warning that this will damage ties. China claims the state as its territory. New Delhi, on its part, has said India that as a secular democracy it will not stop him from travelling to any part of the country. China has called visits by Indian and foreign leaders to the region an attempt by New Delhi to claim the territory. In fact, India's junior internal minister Kiren Rijiju said that he will visit the Dalai Lama during his visit to the Tawang Buddhist monastery next month. The Dalai Lama is visiting the monastery after eight years. Rijiju, who is from Arunachal Pradesh and is Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's man for Tibetan issues, said: "He is going there as a religious leader, there is no reason to stop him. His devotees are demanding he should come, what harm can he do? He is a lama." The Chinese consider the Dalai Lama a dangerous separatist, and his visit may ratchet up tensions at a time when New Delhi is at odds with China on strategic and security issues, and unnerved by Beijing's growing ties with arch-rival Pakistan. The Modi government has been keen to increase its public engagement with the Tibetan leader, a significant moving away from India's earlier line of keeping him at an arm's length for fear of upsetting Beijing. "It's a behavioural change you are seeing. India is more assertive," Rijiju told Reuters in an interview. "The Dalai clique has for a long time carried out anti-China separatist activities and on the issue of the China-India border has a history of disgraceful performances," Chinese spokesperson Geng Shuang told a daily news briefing. China investing nearby While the Dalai Lama's current visit was initiated months in advance, and approval for the April 4-13 trip predates India's recent disagreements with China, the move to go ahead with the visit under the present circumstances points to the Modi government's willingness to use diplomatic tools at a time when China's economic and political clout across South Asia is growing. China is helping to fund a new trade corridor across Pakistan, and has also invested in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, raising fears of strategic encirclement -- called a string of pearls by India and United States. A Taiwanese parliamentary delegation's visit to Delhi last month, also angered Beijing, which regards Taiwan as an integral part of China. In December, President Pranab Mukherjee hosted the Dalai Lama at his official residence with other Nobel prize winners, the first public meeting with an Indian head of state in 60 years. Some officials said India's approach to the Tibetan issue remained cautious, reflecting a gradual evolution in policy rather than a sudden shift, and Modi appears reluctant to go too far for fear of upsetting its large northern neighbour. India's foreign secretary, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, was in Beijing last week on a visit that analysts said was aimed at stabilising relations between the world's most populous countries. Tangible shift That said, Modi's desire to pursue a more assertive foreign policy since his election in 2014 was quickly felt in contacts with China. At one bilateral meeting early in his tenure, Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj asked her Chinese counterpart whether Beijing had a "one India" policy, according to a source familiar with India-China talks, a pointed reference to Beijing`s demand that countries recognise its "one China" policy. "One India" would imply that China recognise India`s claims to Kashmir, contested by Pakistan, as well as border regions like Arunachal Pradesh. India`s hosting of the Dalai Lama since he fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule has long irritated Beijing. But government ministers often shied away from regular public meetings with the Buddhist monk. "These meetings were happening before. Now it is public," Lobsang Sangay, head of the Tibetan government-in-exile based in the Indian town of Dharamsala, said in an interview. "I notice a tangible shift. With all the Chinese investments in all the neighbouring countries, that has generated debate within India," he said. The chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, a member of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, met the Dalai Lama in New Delhi in October and officially invited him to visit the state. On the Dalai Lama`s last visit in 2009, the state`s chief minister met him. This time he will be joined by federal minister Rijiju, a move the Chinese may see as giving the trip an official imprimatur. New Delhi has been hurt by China's refusal to let it join the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the global cartel that controls nuclear commerce. India has also criticised Beijing for stonewalling its request to add the head of a banned Pakistani militant group to a UN Security Council blacklist. Rory Medcalf, Head of the National Security College at the Australian National University, said New Delhi appeared to have been surprised by China's inflexibility since Modi came to power, fuelling distrust in the Indian security establishment. "India does feel that the cards are stacked against it and that it should retain and play the cards that it does have," he said. "The Dalai Lama and Tibetan exile community is clearly one of those cards." (WION with inputs from Reuters)

Indian minister to welcome Dalai Lama in Arunachal Pradesh despite China warning

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Nobody should have any problem with Dalai Lama's Arunachal Pradesh visit, India says

Indian minister to welcome Dalai Lama in Arunachal Pradesh despite China warning