In a snub to China, India on Friday said Tawang and other areas of Arunachal Pradesh are its integral parts and will always remain so.
"Tawang and all of Arunachal Pradesh are part of India and will always remain a part of India. I think we have stated this more than once, reiterating it is not necessary," Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, who is likely to visit the Buddhist town on Saturday, told media persons in Itanagar.
China claims that the Buddhist town of Tawang and some other areas of Arunachal Pradesh are part of it. But India has always rejected these claims.
Chidambaram was supposed to visit Tawang on Thursday but could not do so because of inclement weather.
"I will make another attempt to visit Tawang on Saturday," Chidambaram, who arrived in Itanagar on Friday morning from Guwahati, said.
Asked if his visit to Arunachal, which borders Myanmar, had anything to do with the much-speculated operations by Myanmarese army against northeast militants in base camps there, he said: "Everything cannot be discussed in public."
According to him, violence and militancy in the northeast have come down.
"We simply have to get more groups to talk to us. 2009 was a big success in containing militancy and talks through interlocutors are going on with some major groups, including the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isaac Muviah.
On talks with the United Liberation Front of Assam, he said: "We are ready to talk to ULFA and others also if they abjure violence and express willingness. However, there are splinter groups, which are carrying out extortion and other unlawful activities. We will take firm action against them."
Chidambaram, accompanied by officials of his ministry, reviewed the law and order situation in the state, particularly Tirap and Changlang districts declared disturbed under Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, with army, ITBP and security agencies.
Rail link, airport for Arunachal
Arunachal Pradesh will soon have a rail link and an airport which will help it in exploiting the tourism potential, Chidambaram said.
Work on both projects were on and millions of tourists from the world over were waiting to enjoy the pristine natural beauty of the hilly forested border state, Chidambaram said at a function after launching a bamboo processing unit at Poma model village, 35 km from Itanagar.
He said tourism created more jobs than the same amount of money invested in other sectors.
Elaborating, Chidambaram said for every one rupee crore invested in steel and other industries, only five jobs were created, but over 100 were created with an equal investment in tourism.
