DHARAMSHALA, October 11: China has once again irked India by issuing stapled visas to two archers from Arunachal Pradesh, which it claims as its territory. Arunachal Chief Minister Nabam Tuki has said he will ask Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid to take up the matter with China.
The two archers Maselo Mihu and Sorang Yumi were not allowed to board China Southern Airlines flight to Guangzhou by the airport officials owing to their stapled visas. They were the only two with stapled visas in the 30 – member Indian contingent participating at the Youth World Archery Championship at Wuxi, starting Saturday.
“When we reached the airport, we didn’t know we had a stapled visa. We were told that is not allowed and we can’t go. The others went, we were left…we felt sad,” said Sorang Yumi.
Gunjan Abrol, an official from the Archery Association of India (AAI) said the AAI got visas for 22 archers and 6 officials around 4 PM but the two girls got their visas stapled on an extra paper two hours later.
“But when we reached the airport to catch the 11 am flight, the airlines authorities advised us against sending these two girls since they ran the risk of being deported back to India. The girls were bitterly disappointed to find themselves in such a situation for no fault of them,” said Abrol.
The President of AAI VK Malhotra will take up the matter with Ministry of external affairs today.
Minority Affairs Minister Ninong Ering, an MP from Arunachal Pradesh, said India should boycott cross-border trade with the country. “Stapled visas are a disgrace to us. We want to have trade relations with China; that doesn’t mean China has a claim over us,” said Mr Ering.
Former Arunachal Pradesh MP Kieren Rejiju today resigned from the Archery Association of India in protest. “The rejection of the two young girls due to stapled Visas is another humiliation to us,” he said.
In 2011, Indian weightlifters Sibi Yukar and his coach Abraham Kaya from Arunahcal were not allowed to board a plane as their passports had stapled visas.
Arunachal Pradesh has also witnessed several incursions by Chinese troops with the latest being in August this year. China regularly objects to Indian leaders including the Prime Minister and President visiting Arunachal Pradesh.
China’s territorial claim over Arunachal Pradesh, which China dubs as South Tibet, has remained a bone of contention between India and China since the two nations first shared a common border following China’s occupation of Tibet in 1959.
The longstanding stapled visa row took an ugly turn in 2010 when India suspended defence exchanges with China after the latter refused to issue visa to a top Indian military official posted in Jammu and Kashmir citing the territory being “disputed.”
