Tibet casts shadow on Mansarovar Yatra

According to the external affairs ministry, China has said that it is not prepared to receive pilgrims till June 21 in view of the "domestic conditions". The ministry has accordingly canceled the visit of the first batch of 60 pilgrims, which was due to leave for Tibet via Uttarakhand from Delhi on June 1.

Although Beijing did not specify whether it was referring to the internal turmoil in Tibet or the recent earthquake in citing "domestic conditions", Uttarakhand Tourism Minister Prakash Pant said: "The yatra has been postponed due to internal problems of China in Tibet."

The Uttarakhand government is in charge of the pilgrimage from the Indian side up to the border.

The Chinese are also wary of the growing protests in the Indian areas bordering Tibet, and the threatened march by a group of Buddhist monks from Uttarakhand along with the pilgrims.

The MEA has intimated the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN), the nodal agency which makes arrangements for some 960 pilgrims, about the postponement of the pilgrimage, Pant said.

The minister claimed that Beijing had also asked India to halve the number of batches from the original 16. Officials, however, claimed New Delhi was trying to persuade Beijing to allow bigger batches to accommodate all the 960 pilgrims who had cleared a cumbersome procedure and rigorous medical tests for undertaking the 865-km journey that passes through altitudes as high as 19,500 ft.

The pilgrims, comprising Hindus, Buddhists and Jains, have to trek some 70 km of inhospitable terrain through cold desert conditions for having a