LEH, INDIA, June 12, 2005: Observing that there was improvement in Sino-India ties, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said India will take up with that country the issue of opening up of the route to Kailash Mansarovar through Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir. “We will made an effort,” he told reporters at Leh Airport when asked whether there was any hope of the Ladakh route opening up to Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. “Our relations with China are improving. We will raise this issue (opening of the route) with them in talks,” he said before winding up his three-day tour of Ladakh region during which he visited Siachen Glacier and addressed troops there. Singh had said yesterday that India would favor opening up of the Ladakh route for pilgrims as it would reduce the duration of the pilgrimage drastically. Thousands of Hindu devotees undertake the Yatra annually to the religious place in Tibet through a more difficult and long route via Uttaranchal.
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