Chinese President Xi Jinping will announce the opening of a new and more convenient route for pilgrims to Mansarovar and Mount Kailash via Sikkim, rather than Uttarakhand, in Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his interest in the new route to Mr. Xi during their meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, in July.
The new route will now traverse through the city of Shigatse to the pilgrimage spot situated at a height of 19,500 feet, part of the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
The route has a better highway owing to the infrastructure development there.
The decision is a significant gesture for the pilgrims. The annual pilgrimage takes place by an arrangement with the External Affairs Ministry. Tour operators take pilgrims through the Nepal route.
The earlier route through Uttarakhand and the Lipu Lekh pass was damaged in the flash floods last year that brought the number of “official” pilgrims to just 51. Beijing’s decision to open the new route will particularly help older pilgrims who will be able to drive up to the pilgrimage destinations instead of walking or using mules. Shigatse is connected to Lhasa by a high-altitude railway line, which was inaugurated in August.
Though India has been demanding the new route for the past few years, it was discussed only during a meeting of the working group on India-China border affairs in Beijing in April.
The gesture has political significance given China’s sensitivities over Tibet, and denotes a new confidence in opening up parts of the region to people from outside.
An official clarified that the new route would not in any way prejudice either country’s current position on the border dispute.
