Nearly 69 foreign delegates, including president of the Uyghur American Association Ilshat Hasan, met the Dalai Lama on April 28.
Though the Modi-led government denied a visa to Uyghur leader Dolkun Isa, it reportedly allowed at least eight Chinese activists and a prominent Uighur leader to participate in the Dharamsala conference.
According to a Hindustan Times report, the conference on ‘Strengthening Our Alliance to Advance the People’s Dream' at the Norbu House in McLeodganj was organised by US-based Chinese dissident Yang Jiamil. However, no formal permission was sought or given by the Indian government for it, the report said.
Quoting government sources, the report said that nearly 69 foreign delegates, including president of the Uyghur American Association Ilshat Hasan, who travelled on tourist visas, met the Dalai Lama on April 28.
Earlier last week, after an electronic visa issued to Dolkun Isa, a leader of the World Uyghur Congress, sparked protest from China, India withdrew it. The HT report says that the goof up occurred as an Interpol red corner notice issued against Isa in 1998 did not show up in official records of the department of immigration. India on its part had denied having come under any pressure to refuse visas to Isa as well as two other activists, Ray Wong and Lu Jinghua.
China regards WUC leaders as backers of terrorism in its volatile Muslim-dominated Xinjiang province and India's previous decision to give them visas was seen as a response to Beijing blocking a ban on Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar in the UN recently.
Xinjiang, which has over 10 million Uyghur population of Turkic origin Muslims, was on the boil for several years over Uyghur protests against the large-scale settlements of Hans from different parts of the country. China blames the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a militant Islamist group, for terrorist attacks in Xinjiang and other parts of the country.
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