Govt denies banning foreign media from Tawang visit
New Delhi: A top American official said on Friday that the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, was free to go anywhere as a religious figure.
Undersecretary of state for democracy and global affairs Maria Otero told journalists here, "He is visiting a monastery, a holy place. And from our perspective, this is one of the roles that he plays."
She was asked for her reaction to Chinese protests over the Tibetan leader's visit to the Tawang monastery in Arunachal Pradesh from Sunday.
Otero said US president Barack Obama would visit China this month and Tibet would certainly be one of the issues for discussion with Chinese leaders.
The special coordinator for Tibet said, "Tibet is very much symbolised by Dalai Lama. He is a person highly revered in the US and highly regarded as a religious leader... certainly his representation of Tibet. President Obama has a lot of respect and consideration for the Dalai Lama."
Meanwhile, the central government has denied that it had refused permission to the foreign media to travel to Arunachal to cover the Dalai Lama's visit.
News reports had stated that the Union government had on Thursday revoked permission given to four foreign correspondents, besides cancelling fresh permits.
Fourteen foreign journalists based here and five others had sought permission to travel to Arunachal to cover the visit. The ministry of external affairs (MEA) had said that the applications were being processed.
Foreigners have to approach MEA for a restricted area permit to travel to the state. -Agencies

THE VISIT
The Dalai Lama will undertake a week-long visit to Arunachal, over which China has objected
He is expected to visit the Tawang monastery and inaugurate a super-specialty hospital
On October 19, the Arunachal government's state reception committee had cleared the visit
China objected to it on the grounds of Arunachal being a disputed territory and the Dalai Lama being seen as a dissident and renegade leader
New Delhi retaliated by saying that Arunachal was an integrated part of India and that it saw the Dalai Lama as an honoured guest of the Indian government
This was conveyed by prime minister Manmohan Singh, when he met his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the Asean summit in Hua Hin, Thailand, last week
Defence minister AK Antony said on Friday that the Dalai Lama was an honoured guest of India but he would not be allowed to indulge in political activities