Status of Arunachal Pradesh not debatable: Pranab

New Delhi, Dec 13: Declaring that the status of Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of India ''is not debatable,'' External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today appealed to the Lok Sabha not to get exercised over Chinese Ambassador Sun Yuxi's claims that the whole of the northeastern border state belonged to China.

''Let us not be too excited'' by the envoy's claims, Mr Mukherjee said in response to the objection raised by Leader of Opposition L K Advani during zero hour.

Mr Advani said Mr Yuxi had not stopped with raising the issue on the eve of Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit here last month.

Attending a function at Chandigarh recently, the envoy had stated that the status of Arunachal Pradesh was the subject of negotiations between the special representatives of India and China, the BJP leader said and wanted a response from the government.

Mr Mukherjee said both Houses of Parliament had elected representatives from Arunachal Pradesh and in the past there was also a Union Minister from that state. Also, Parliament had passed a resolution declaring that Arunachal Pradesh was part and parcel of India. All this showed that the status of the state was not debatable.

Further, this was not the first time a Chinese diplomat had aired his views on Arunachal Pradesh. In June/July 2003, when the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was visiting China, the foreign office spokesman of that country had made a similar statement.

This was due to the fact that China had never accepted McMohan Line as the demarcating line between the two countries. ''This point is quite clear.'' At the same time, ''it is true that when you discuss the boundary issue, it belongs to some part of the countries concerned. Whether it is acceptable or not acceptable, that is the issue being discussed by the two representatives,'' the mechanism agreed upon during the visit of Mr Vajpayee to China, Mr Mukherjee said.

The Minister said the House had also passed a resolution on Jammu and Kashmir, but the NDA government headed by Mr Vajpayee had agreed to discuss Kashmir under the composite dialogue process with Pakistan. Jammu and Kashmir was the eighth point on the agenda of the Indo-Pak peace process, he said.

The Indo-Pak composite dialogue process and the India-China talks through the special representatives ''are institutional arrangements. Let these function. Let us not just go on raising'' these issues in the House, he said.

The External Affairs Minister, however, said Mr Sun's remarks did not fall within the ''normal practice'' and this was being taken up with China at the appropriate level. He clarified that neither side disclosed the details of the talks.

Mr Advani took exception to Mr Mukherjee referring to Jammu and Kashmir as well, instead of restricting his response to clarifying that Mr Sun's remark was improper and that it would be taken up with China.

The Leader of Opposition also contended that the Minister had said that ''Arunachal Pradesh is negotiable,'' but Mr Mukherjee did not agree, stating that ''you are putting words in my mouth.'' The two BJP MPs from Arunachal Pradesh -- Mr Tapir Gao and Mr Khiren Rijiju -- were also not satisfied with the Minister's response, but Speaker Somnath Chatterjee did not allow their contentions, made without the Chair's permission, to go on record.

Mr Chatterjee ruled that the Minister had stated that the status of Arunachal Pradesh was not debatable and the House had made it clear that the state was not a negotiable issue. As such, there was no need for a debate on the issue.

UNI