India Blooms News Service
New Delhi (IBNS). India once again urged China to show sensitivity towards the former's territorial integrity by reversing its practice of issuing stapled visa to the visitors from trouble-torn Jammu and Kashmir state.
Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao said here, "It's for China to undo the knot on the stapled visas issue."
She said China should be more sensitive to core issues pertaining to India's sovereignty and territorial integrity to improve the relations between two countries.
Earlier, India had raised the contentious issue of stapled visas to Jammu and Kashmir residents by China during the meeting of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao in Hanoi at the ASEAN-India and East Asia Summits.
Manmohan Singh has conveyed the concerns of India to Beijing, especially the issuance of stapled visas to the resident of Jammu and Kashmir, a move that smacks of China's non-recognition of the region as part of India and a departure from its earlier neutral stand.
China started the practice of issuing stapled visas about two years back and the issue triggered a major row in July this year when Beijing offered such a visa to India's Northern Area Commander Lt Gen BS Jaswal.
India responded by suspending high-level defence exchanges for which Lt Gen Jaswal was supposed to travel Beijing and made it clear that it would remain on "pause" till China reverted to its earlier position on Jammu and Kashmir. India has also concerns about Chinese projects in the Pak occupied Kashmir (POK).
(Courtesy : www.indiablooms.com, 03/12/2010)
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