M A I N   N E W S

China stops issuing stapled visas to J&K residents
Ashok Tuteja/TNS

Border meeting soon n India and China are finalising the dates for the 15th round of talks between their Special Representatives to resolve the long-pending boundary dispute n Sources said the meeting was likely to be held by the end of this month or early November in New Delhi n Though 14 rounds of talks have been held so far between the SRs, the two countries have made little progress till date We have not come across any instance of a J&K resident being given a stapled visa in the past one year, we believe the matter is closed.  — Top govt sources

New Delhi, October 18
China appears to have quietly discontinued the practice of issuing stapled visas to Indian nationals from Jammu and Kashmir, thus removing a major irritant in the complex Sino-Indian relationship.

“The issue perhaps is behind us now,” sources in the government said when asked about the row between India and China that erupted more than two years back after Beijing started giving visas on separate sheets to Indian residents of J&K, thereby questioning the status of the state.

The sources said that since last October New Delhi has not come across any instance in which the Chinese Embassy has given a stapled visa to a J&K national.

The immigration authorities at airports in India were under strict instructions during the past two years not to allow any Indian having been issued stapled visa by the Chinese Embassy to board an aircraft.

New Delhi had taken up the issue with Beijing as and when an opportunity came and asked it to rectify the situation in the interest of the bilateral relationship. In fact, there was also an immense pressure on Indian authorities to start issuing stapled visas to Chinese residents of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) in a tit-for-tat exercise.

In December last when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited India, he had assured Indian leaders that Beijing would amicably settle the issue to India’s satisfaction.

“We have not come across any instance of a J&K resident being given a stapled visa in the past one year, we believe the matter is closed,” sources added.

Asked if China had also stopped issuing stapled visas to Indian nationals from Arunachal Pradesh, the sources said the northeastern state fell in an entirely different category. They were alluding to the fact that China lays claim to the entire state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Meanwhile, amid the simmering tension between them over New Delhi inking an accord with Vietnam for oil exploration in the South China Sea, India and China are finalising the dates for the 15th round of talks between their Special Representatives (SRs) over the boundary issue.

Sources said the meeting was likely to be held by the end of the month or early November in New Delhi. National Security Adviser (NSA) Shivshankar Menon is the SR on the Indian side while State Councillor Dai Bingguo leads China at these talks.

Though 14 rounds of talks have been held so far between the SRs, the two countries have made little progress in resolving the dispute over their more than 3,500-4,000-km long border. However, both sides have pledged to resolve the border dispute peacefully through talks.