Dharamsala, Oct 28: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu on Wednesday said the exiled Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be accorded the honour of ‘state guest’ during his week-long tour beginning November 8.
Khandu reportedly said the Dalai Lama will be given all protocol, including a tight security cover, when he arrives.
“He will be accorded with the honour of state guest. He will visit Tawang, Itanagar and some other places,” PTI quoted Khandu as saying.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had conveyed to his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao that the Dalai Lama is an “honoured guest” of India when the two met on the sidelines of the ASEAN-India and East Asia Summits in Thailand.
“I explained to Premier Wen that Dalai Lama is our honoured guest and he is a religious leader,” Singh said.
China has protested the Dalai Lama’s planned visit to Arunachal Pradesh.
Despite objections from Beijing, New Delhi has cleared Tibetan leader’s planned visit to Arunachal Pradesh that will take him to the 300-year-old Tawang monastery among other places.
Showing a copy of the External Affairs Ministry’s letter to reporters on Monday, the chairperson of the State level reception committee, T. G. Rinpoche, reportedly said that the Ministry had already cleared the visit on October 19.
