China issues visa on passport of former Kashmir university vice chancellor

After raising India's hackles by issuing visa on 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 attened an international conference on nuclear disarmament in China last month, had been given a regular stamped visa in his passport facilitating his travel, government sources said today.

The noted Kashmiri Pandit academician was born in Jammu and Kashmir.

On several occasions in the recent past, the China Embassy had given visas to residents of Jammu and Kashmir on separate sheets of paper instead of the passport, inviting a sharp reaction from Indian government.

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

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