PTI

Foreign journos apply for permission to visit Arunachal

Thu, Nov 5 09:48 PM

New Delhi, Nov 5 (PTI) Government tonight said a number of foreign journalists have applied for permission to travel to Arunachal Pradesh to cover the visit of the Dalai Lama and the applications are under process. Official sources insisted that no journalist has been denied permission, contradicting a media report which said that foreign scribes have been disallowed from travelling to the North Eastern state.

The Tibetan spiritual leader will be undertaking a week-long visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which is being objected to by China as it lays claim over the territory. The sources said 14 Delhi-based foreign journalists and five others based abroad have sought permission to travel to Arunachal Pradesh to cover the visit and these are being processed by the Ministry of External Affairs.

As per the rules, foreigners have to approach the MEA for Restricted Area Permit to travel to the sensitive state. For Indians, an Inner Line Permit is required, which is given by the Arunachal Pradesh government representative in Delhi.

Some journalists tried to "short-circuit" the procedures by directly approaching the Arunachal Bhavan here, which gave Inner Line Permit that was not valid without the MEA clearance, the sources said. To make a point, the sources said the government recently gave permits to a number of foreign journalists who visited the state to cover the Assembly elections.

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