India, China Look to Resume Kailash Mansarovar Yatra

If the Pilgrimage Goes Ahead, It Will Mark Another Step in the Process of Normalising Bilateral Relations After the Standoff on the LAC in 2020

- Rezaul H Laskar

NEW DELHI: India and China are close to an understanding on resuming the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra as the two sides continue the protracted process of normalising their relations after the more than four-year standoff on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), people familiar with the matter said.

The resumption of the pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Mansarovar Lake in China's Tibet Autonomous Region, which has not been held since 2020, is among confidence-building measures being discussed by the two sides after they reached an understanding last October on disengagement of troops at the two remaining friction points of Demchok and Depsang.

Two days after the understanding on disengagement of forces, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping met in the Russian city of Kazan and decided to revive several mechanisms to address the border dispute and to normalise ties.

One of these mechanisms—the Special Representatives on the border issue—focused on the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage, data sharing on trans-border rivers and border trade at a meeting in Beijing last December.