India protests Chinese stapled visa to Arunachal weightlifter

NEW DELHI - A day after an Arunachali weightlifter and coach were refused permission to leave Delhi due to stapled Chinese visa, India has again told China to follow a uniform policy on visa issued to Indian citizens.

Sibi Yukar and his coach Abraham Kaya were Tuesday turned back from Delhi airport after immigration officials noticed that their Chinese visas had been issued on a separate paper and stapled to the passports.

The two were on their way to an invitational event in China.

Yukar had a special invitation from the Chinese weightlifting authorities for the event, who had also facilitated the visa. They were also bearing all the expenses for the trip, Indian Weightlifting Federation secretary Sahdev Yadav told IANS.

The Ministry of External Affairs has taken cognisance of the incident and noted that both of them 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 applicants ethnicity or place of domicile, said the ministry’s official spokesperson, Vishnu Prakash Wednesday.

He pointed out that the ministry had issued a travel advisory dated Nov 12, 2009, informing Indian citizens that Chinese paper visas were not considered valid for travel out of the country.

Yadav said that while the visas had been received a week back, they had not been aware of the advisory given by the Indian government.

We have written to the technical director of the event, protesting against the contradictory policy of the Chinese government. There should be one policy for all Indians, he said.