New Delhi: China has deferred the Kailash Mansarovar yatra by two weeks citing domestic reasons. China apparently worried that Tibetan dissidents could use the yatra to highlight their opposition to Beijing.
This implies that the 3rd batch of pilgrims will leave New Delhi on June 13 and reach Tibet on June 21.
It’s not clear what will happen to the first and the second batches, which for now stand cancelled.
However, India hopes those pilgrims will be accommodated in later batches.
India seems to have been taken by surprise by this announcement. Just two weeks ago, the ministry of external affairs had declared the yatra was on schedule.
The MEA is continuing its efforts with the Government of the People's Republic of China to accommodate the pilgrims of the Batch numbers one and two in later batches.
Mount Kailash and Mansarovar are considered sacred by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains alike, who undertake this arduous pilgrimage each year from India.
The Chinese government makes all the arrangements for the pilgrimage. The pilgrims have to pass medical fitness test to be eligible for the trek. Also the number of pilgrims is restricted.
The pilgrims have a darshan of the Kailash, and circumfabulate about 52-kms circumfrence of the Lake in cold desert conditions.
The pilgrim would now start from June 21. A MEA spokesperson said that New Delhi was trying to persuade Beijing to accommodate the first batch of pilgrims, who were scheduled to leave on June 1.
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