Indian, Chinese officials speed up efforts on Kailash Manasarovar Yatra resumption agreement

The Manasarovar Yatra used to be held between June and September each year until China withdrew facilities for Indians to visit during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Yatra remained suspended due to tensions at the Line of Actual Control after the Galwan killings in 2020. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

With the deadline for choosing pilgrims for the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra looming in a few weeks, Indian and Chinese officials are speeding up efforts to reach an agreement on restarting the annual pilgrimage, which has remained suspended since 2019.

The Manasarovar Yatra used to be held between June and September each year until China withdrew facilities for Indians to visit during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Yatra remained suspended due to tensions at the Line of Actual Control after the Galwan killings in 2020. 

Also read: China-India ties across the past and into the future

In previous years, Indian authorities would set up a computerised lottery system in the first week of May to choose the pilgrims, and officials said they were keen to complete the agreement to resume the Manasarovar Yatra at the earliest, so as not to risk delaying the process or curtailing the season for making the journey. 

Sources said that the two sides have discussed the resumption of the Kailash Manasarovar in detail in the last few weeks, and expect a breakthrough “shortly”. According to officials, talks have been narrowing the gaps in outstanding issues, including checking infrastructure on both sides, and reviving logistical systems for a smooth process of travel.

The resumption of the pilgrimage process was discussed between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi when they met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brazil to take forward the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-President Xi Jinping meeting in Kazan in October 2024. In January, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had visited Beijing, where the issue was at the top of the agenda. In an unusual move, the issue was also discussed by the Working Mechanism for Coordination and Consultation (WMCC) on India-China border affairs, which normally focuses on defence and border management issues, indicating the pressure on both sides to restart the Yatra this year.

“(The two sides) exchanged views on early resumption of cross-border cooperation and exchanges, including on trans-border rivers and Kailash-Manasarovar Yatra,” a press statement issued after the 33rd WMCC meeting on March 25 this year read.

The Kailash Manasarovar Yatra is organised by the Ministry of External Affairs; the Ministry of Home Affairs; the Indo Tibetan Border Police; the Delhi, Sikkim and Uttarakhand governments; and state agencies, including the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam. The pilgrimage was held until 2020 through the two official routes of Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand (since 1981) and the Nathu La Pass (since 2015) in Sikkim. 

“Government will continue to take up this issue in its contacts with Chinese authorities,” the Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh had told Parliament in response to a question on the resumption of the pilgrimage in December 2024.