Close on the heels of reported border incursions, China's recent practice of issuing separate visas to Indian passport holders from Jammu and Kashmir has sparked widespread concern and brought to the fore a growing trust deficit between the two neighbours. India's external affairs ministry conveyed its unhappiness to the Chinese government Thursday, a day after a media report disclosed the practice that is seen to give separate status to the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, claimed by Pakistan, widely considered Beijing's all-weather ally. "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 spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said here. "We have conveyed our well-justified concern to the Chinese government in this regard," he said. The issue was taken up yesterday with both the Chinese embassy and with the foreign office in Beijing. "The visas are valid," was all a spokesperson of the Chinese embassy would say when asked about the practice of issuing standalone visas to Kashmiris. External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna is likely to raise the issue with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi's visit to India Oct 26-27, top sources told IANS. Yang will be here to participate in the trilateral meeting of the foreign ministers of India, China and Russia which will be held in Bangalore. The Chinese embassy has been issuing visas for some time to Indian passport holders from Jammu and Kashmir on a separate sheet of paper rather than stamping them in their passports, which is the norm with other Indian citizens. They have given stapled visas earlier to residents of Arunachal Pradesh, over which China claims its sovereignty. The move is fraught with security risks as the unattached visa does not leave any trail behind and does not fully reflect the travel record of the passport holder. According to sources, the new practice has coincided with a hardening of Chinese posture on India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. "It's meant to put India on the defensive on the boundary issue," said the sources. "It's extremely troubling and disturbing. It does suggest a new level of tension between India and China. There has to be a political message in what has happened," Mira Sinha Bhattachrjea, a China expert at the Institute of Chinese Studies here, told IANS. "Except for a brief period during the India-Pakistan war in 1965, the Chinese have not raised the Kashmir issue," she pointed out. "If the Chinese are beginning to highlight the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir, it's a matter of great concern and anxiety," said Bhattachrjea. "Trust deficit is growing." "These are pinpricks. This could be used as a bargaining chip in boundary negotiations or on other issues like India's claim for a seat in the UN Security Council," Srikanth Kondapalli, a China expert at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, told IANS. The visa issue has revived trust deficit, an impression that has been bolstered by reports of recent incursions and a string of hostile posturing by China against India's interests that started with Beijing's alleged negative role in trying to block consensus in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) a year ago. Recently, China tried to block a development loan for India in the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on grounds that a part of the loan was meant for irrigation projects in Arunachal Pradesh. source : DailyPioneer
China issuing seperate visas to Kashmiris What is China up to? These actions doest look favorable for India. One side these Chinese are saying that they are looking forward having better and warm relationship with India and seeking India to support them in providing security in Indian waters, and on other side they are stopping the bank deals and treating the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir as separate people. This is not fair and India foreign minister should take strict action against these issues and ask Chinese government for valid explanation.
Seperate visas for Kashmiris This action of China is making us confused, whether we are joining hands and working over relationship or these are just a matter of political concern. Here one side we are talking about nurturing INDO-CHINA relations, business and security, and on other hand what China is doing with Kashmir’s is truly a matter of concern an even Indian govt. was informed about it.
this situation is highly uncalled for from the chinese government. how can it do when kashmir is part and parcel of indian nation?? indian government must take stern action on this as it is issue of our national pride and we cant let any foreign nation doing such absurd acts. we should condemn such acts from any nation.
i think indian government should realise what china is doing to our nation. how can they issue separate visas to kashmiris when kashmir is an integral part of india?? indian embassy should talk to chinese officals and set things right because this would globally harm the image of india
