India upset over China issuing non-passport visas to Kashmiris

[Naveed Yaseen]

India upset over China issuing separate visas to Kashmiris
NEW DELHI (October 02 2009): India on Thursday conveyed its concerns to the Chinese government over the issue of separate visas to Indian passport holders from the northern Jammu and Kashmir. India lodged protest with Beijing after the Chinese embassy in New Delhi issued several visas to people from Jammu and Kashmir (or Indian occupied Kashmir) on a separate sheet of paper, rather than stamping their passports as is usually done.

"It is our considered view and position that there should be no discrimination against visa applicants of Indian nationality on grounds of domicile or ethnicity," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said in a statement.

"We have conveyed our well-justified concern to the Chinese government in this regard," he said. The move has been seen by the Indian establishment as an attempt to question the status of Jammu and Kashmir that is claimed by Pakistan, considered an all-weather ally of China.

The Chinese embassy had been issuing "stapled" visas to Indian passport holders from Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims is part of China. "The visas are valid," a spokeswoman of the Chinese embassy told the IANS news agency, refusing to answer any other question.

It is not clear when the Chinese mission started the practice of issuing "stapled visas" to Kashmiris. Diplomatic sources said the new practice has coincided with a hardening of China's posture over Arunachal Pradesh. "It's meant to put India on the defensive on the boundary issue," an unnamed Indian official was quoted as saying by the IANS. India and China have held 13 rounds of talks to resolve their decades-old boundary dispute but the negotiations have not made much headway.

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