President's proposed visit behind govt cancelling Chinese dissident's visa?

Apparently deciding not to rattle President Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Beijing next month, the government on Monday withdrew the visa granted to exiled Uighur-Chinese leader Dolkun Isa to participate in a four-day international conference of anti-Beijing activists at Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh which was to start from April 28. The conference organised by the US-based organisation Citizen Power for China (CFC), at the seat of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, has been cancelled. Some activists will now only meet behind closed doors in Dharamsala. Isa was earlier issued an electronic tourist visa. But the reason now being given by the External Affairs Ministry is that an electronic tourist visa does not permit a person to address any public meeting in India. He was advised to apply for a fresh visa under the appropriate category, but it may not come too soon to attend the Dharamsala conference.

Analysts here believe that it appears that a section in the establishment was testing diplomatic waters and Chinese reactions on permitting a dissident, labelled as a terrorist by the Chinese government to visit India, in a bid to reply and show resentment to Beijing blocking India's bid to get a UN ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar and other terrorists.

President Mukherjee's visit to China in May is seen as a signal continuing high-level engagement with Beijing after meeting between two foreign ministers and trips by defence minister and NSA amid Delhi's growing ties with the US that would get further momentum with the PM's trip to Washington June. Therefore, at the highest level, it was decided to keep Beijing engaged rather rattling it.

Reacting to the Indian move, Isa said, "On April 23, I got a very short note by the Indian side that my visa is cancelled. There was no explanation."

In an e-mail from Germany, where he is based, he took exception to equating him with terrorist Masood Azhar. "It's a very sad situation for us," he said. He had also requested adequate security for the trip to Delhi and Dharamsala during which he wanted to meet Indian leaders and civil society activists.

Granting of visa to the exiled leader had triggered a war of words between India and China . Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying had described him a terrorist in red notice of the Interpol and Chinese police.

"Bringing him to justice is due obligation of relevant countries," she said, putting the onus on India to arrest Isa, once he lands in New Delhi. Isa also agreed in his letter to e-mail that India may have worked under Chinese pressure

As the executive committee chairman of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), I express my disappointment on Indian authorities cancellation of my visa to attend the conference, which remains a vital forum through which ethnic and religious communities in China related areas, as well as statesmen, scholars and activists are able to meet openly to discuss and exchange ideas, promote peaceful dialogue, and reinforce bonds between disparate communities," he added.

In September 2009, Isa was detained briefly and denied entry to South Korea while travelling to attend the World Forum for Democratisation in Asia. He also reminded friendly ties of his the Uyghur community with the Indian people. The Indian government hosted our late leader, Isa Yusuf Alptekin and Uyghur refugees after they fled China in 1949 and in 1959. Many of Uyghur's still live in Srinagar, summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. Several of them have reached to top positions in India, including in the civil services.

Keeping Xinjiang or the Uyghur province, which is about 1/6th of the Chinese landmass, under tight control is an absolute strategic necessity for China. It borders eight countries and is also home of China's nuclear testing facilities with s sustainable reserves of oil and gas and also a gateway to vast Central Asian oil and gas reserves.