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| Stapled Visa, Illegal activities in POK: FM Krishna's China visit | | |
RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Apr 5: Foreign Minister S M Krishna is in China. It is an official visit. Commenting on his China visit, spokesperson of the Indian Foreign Office (IFO) Vishnu Prakash told media persons last Saturday that Foreign Minister Krishna will take up the "entire gamut of bilateral issues, including boundary issue, illegal construction by Chinese companies in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir and China issuing stapled visas to those hailing from Jammu and Kashmir".
Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the Foreign Ministry Gautam Bambawale also made identical remarks. He said: New Delhi "has been maintaining that any construction in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir by China is illegal" and that "this has been conveyed to China at every level as it is a matter of core concern to the country".
What Vishnu Prakash and Gautam Bambawale told media persons on the eve of the Foreign Minister's China visit was what they should have said considering the country's paramount sovereign interests. They did hint at the issues of great import - issues that have a direct bearing on the country's sovereignty. Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir is undoubtedly India and, hence, what the Chinese companies and China have been doing there is illegal. It is a direct attack on the Indian sovereignty.
Similarly, China issuing stapled visas to those belonging to Jammu and Kashmir means that Beijing, like Islamabad and Kashmiri separatists, doesn't regard the state as in integral part of India. This again is a direct attack on the Indian sovereignty and integrity. Beijing has stated a number of times that the Chinese embassies in India have been issuing stapled visas to those who belong to Jammu and Kashmir for quite sometime now and they would continue to do so as there is a dispute over the status of Jammu and Kashmir. The normal practice is that the embassies, instead of issuing stapled visas, stamp the same on the passports to make everything foolproof so that none is able to do anything undesirable.
The response of the IFO is that it has said that "we have asked China to do away with this" (practice) and "we will continue doing it and we hope our position is taken on board".
If those managing the country's foreign affairs believe that Beijing would see reason and endorse the Indian viewpoint on the Chinese visa regime and its illegal activities in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, then it can be said without hesitation that they are living in a world of the past. China believes in territorial expansion and it has been moving in this direction since decades. It has been extending its tentacles to the neighboring countries. It has annexed China. It has annexed thousands and thousands of sq km of the Indian Territory in the Himalayas. It has been intruding in Ladakh time and again. It has also fixed its evil eyes on Arunachal Pradesh and other parts of India.
Pakistan, perhaps, is the only country that maintains good relations with China. The reasons are not difficult to understand. The most important reason is that both want to annex the Indian territories. Pakistan wants to annex Jammu and Kashmir and China Ladakh. In fact, both Islamabad and Beijing are working in unison to harm India. The Pakistani permission to Beijing to undertake activities in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir and the manner in which Islamabad ceded certain strategic parts of our territories in Northern Areas to China decades ago should be viewed in this context. The nature of relationship between the India's two hostile neighbors can be determined from the Pakistan's blank cheque to Beijing to intervene in India-Pakistan relations.
Hence, it would be suicidal for the IFO to depend on either Pakistan or China. It has to depend on itself. It can achieve what it wants to achieve in collaboration with Beijing. It can counter the Chinese visa regime by directing the Airport Authority of India not to allow anyone from Jammu and Kashmir to board any plane if he/she carries a stapled visa. It can be done very easily.
Similarly, the IFO and the Indian Defence Ministry have to join hands and implement the February 22, 1994 parliamentary unanimous resolution. Once they implement it and reintegrate Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan into India, it would be impossible for China to undertake any activity in that part of the state. And, if it would make any such attempt after the reintegration of these areas into India, it would mean retaliation from the Indian side.
This is the only course left to show China its rightful place. There is no doubt that Foreign Minister Krishna would return to India empty-handed. India has to adopt an aggressive foreign policy.
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