(TibetanReview.net, Jun11’25) – From being open only for yearly seasonal trading activities, India is to open the Shipki La pass on the India-Tibet border in Himachal Pradesh state to tourists and local public for the first time since independence in 1947, reported news18.com Jun 10. The decision was announced during Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s Jun 9 visit to the place. He is only the second Chief Minister of the state to visit this Tibet-border area of India.
Nestled in the high-altitude terrains of Kinnaur district, this strategic Himalayan pass, previously restricted to trade activities, will now allow visitors to witness one of the most closely-guarded border zones in the country, the report said.
The state’s founding chief minister Yashwant Singh Parmar and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had trekked to the pass in 1968, long before a road was even built there, the report noted.
Sukhu’s visit was stated to have marked the formal launch of a “Border Tourism” initiative aimed at opening up the mystique of the high frontiers to tourists. He has laid the foundation stone of the Sarhad Van Udyan, a green development project near the India-Tibet border, and addressed locals along with personnel of the Indian Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) stationed at the frontier.
The chief minister was stated to have raised slogans of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai“
(Victory to Mother India!) as he hailed the valour of the armed forces and later trekked to the high vantage point of Indira Point to survey the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The move is being seen as a powerful assertion of civilian presence in these remote and geopolitically sensitive regions, especially amid heightened tensions with China along multiple Himalayan fronts, the report noted.
Shipki La has historically served as a key route for Indo-Tibetan trade, connecting Kinnaur district with Tibet. The trade was halted in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic and has not resumed since. For centuries, traders passed through here exchanging wool, salt, and grain with their counterparts in Chinese-occupied Tibet, visible just across the border, the report noted.
With its opening for tourism, visitors will have access to picturesque but previously restricted locations like Lepcha La, Gyu Monastery, Khana Dumti, Sangla, Rani Kanda, and Chitkul, extending even into parts of Lahaul-Spiti, the report said.
The Shipki La corridor is also part of the route to Kailash-Mansarovar, a major Hindu pilgrimage site in western Tibet. However, access through this route still requires Chinese clearance, as the region remains under China’s control.
Apart from tourism and cultural revival, the move carries strategic undertones. With China’s increasing infrastructure activity across the LAC, India’s decision to promote controlled civilian movement in its own borderlands is being viewed as a message of resolve and presence, the report said.
The Chief Minister said border roads are not only of strategic importance, but their purpose is to provide benefits to the people by increasing connectivity in remote border regions, the IANS news service Jun 10 cited chief minister as saying.
Indian tourists and locals can visit Shipki La by showing a valid ID, such as an Aadhaar card. However, overnight stays are not allowed, reported nativeplanet.com Jun 11.