China issued stapled visas to two Indian citizens living in the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, prompting a quick response from New Delhi which said it has unequivocally conveyed to the Chinese side that a uniform practice on issuance of visas to Indian nationals must be followed.
China’s new tactics, which come in the wake of the issue of stapled visas to Indians living in Jammu and Kashmir, were noticed when two sportsmen from Arunachal Pradesh were prevented by immigration officials at Delhi airport from boarding a flight Wednesday to Beijing on the ground that the stapled visas issued by the Chinese embassy on their passports were not valid for travel outside India.
A PTI report from Itanagar, capital of Arunachal Pradesh, said the two were to visit China at the invitation of Chinese Weightlifting Association president Menguang for the January 15-17 China Weightlifting Grand Prix in Fujian province. When they got in touch with the Chinese embassy they were told that the “right” visas have been issued to them.
The PTI report noted that in the case of residents of Arunachal Pradesh, visas were never issued till now as China claims the whole of the north-eastern state as its own.
The official spokesperson of the external affairs ministry said, “We have seen media reports on issuance of stapled visas to an athlete, Mr Sibi Yukar, and his coach, Mr Abraham Kaya, by the Chinese embassy to India. Both of them, reportedly, are domiciled in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, which is an integral part of India.”
“We have unequivocally conveyed to the Chinese side that a uniform practice on issuance of visas to Indian nationals must be followed, regardless of the applicant’s ethnicity or place of domicile. The ministry had also issued a travel advisory on November 12, 2009 cautioning Indian citizens that Chinese paper visas, stapled to the passport, were not considered valid for travel out of the country,” the spokesperson added.
China first began the practice of issuing stapled visas in 2008 when it issued such visas to people from J&K in what was seen as an attempt to project it as a disputed area. The issue of stapled visas for residents of J&K had figured during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to India in December 2010.