Govt clears Dalai Lama's Arunachal visit

Ignoring objections from China, the Union government has cleared Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama’s week-long visit to Arunachal Pradesh from November 8 that will also take him to the ancient Tawang monastery.

Showing a copy of a letter of the external affairs ministry’s letter, the chairperson of the state level reception committee, T G Rinpoche, told reporters on Monday it had cleared the visit on October 19 and the same was communicated to authorities the next day.

The November visit is the fifth to the state by the Dalai since he fled Tibet in 1959 to India, taking the Tawang route. The visit cames in the backdrop of the recent diplomatic bickerings between India and China including over Arunachal Pradesh.