China issues regular visa to JK academician

After raising India's heckles by issuing visas in a separate sheet of paper to several residents of Jammu and Kashmir, China issued a visa stamped on passport to former Jammu University vice chancellor Amitabh Mattoo, a domicile of the state, who visited the neighbouring country.

Mattoo, who had applied for a visa in the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi to attend an international conference on nuclear disarmament in China in November, had been given a regular stamped visa in his passport facilitating his easy travel, government sources said on Tuesday.

The noted Kashmiri Pandit academician was born in Jammu and Kashmir. On several occasions in the recent past, the Chinese Embassy had given visas to residents of Jammu and Kashmir on separate sheets of paper instead of their passports, inviting a sharp reaction from the Indian government.

The government, while making it clear that it does not subscribe to this approach which discriminates on the basis of domicile, said travelers with only regular visas on their passports will be allowed to travel to China.

The government had also said that moderate Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who is planning on visiting China, will be stopped if his visa is on a stapled paper instead of his passport.