Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India: Pranab

New Delhi, Nov 24 (UNI) Asserting that Arunachal Pradesh is an ''integral part'' of India and this ''is not a debatable issue at all,'' External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today appealed to the opposition in the Lok Sabha not to ''unnecessarily heighten tension'' and instead allow the India-China dialogue process to continue.

Rejecting the demand of Leader of Opposition L K Advani's demand for a Parliament resolution declaring Arunachal Pradesh as an inalienable part of India, Mr Mukherjee said this was not necessary as the House had as far back in 1962 had adopted a resolution on the issue.

This continued to remain the position of Parliament and the successive governments and there was no change in this, the Minister said.

The External Affairs Minister was replying to a over one-hour debate on the issue during zero hour after Mr Advani had criticised the government's silence over the statement of Chinese Ambassador Sun Yuxi that the whole of Arunachal Pradesh belonged to China.

The claim was most unfortunate as it was timed ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to India, he said.

Mr Mukherjee said this was not the first time such a thing had happened before the visit of dignitaries to each other's country. On June 26, 2003, when the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was visiting China from June 22-27, there was a Chinese transgression on the Actual Line of Control, in Asafila in the Upper Subansiri area.

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