Visa to Dalai Lama not denied, still under consideration: South Africa

Amid reports that South Africa has denied a visa to the Dalai Lama, the African nation's High Commissioner to India France K Morule on Friday said his visa has not been denied yet and the application is under consideration.

Morule said he will be meeting the Dalai Lama's representatives here tomorrow on further action required to be taken on granting visa to the spiritual leader, who was going to attend the 14th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Cape Town next month.

"No decision is taken as yet and it is going through like any other visa application," Morule said. "The Dalai Lama is not a persona non-grata, he has been going in and out of South Africa and he will continue to go there and we hold the Dalai Lama in higher regards, we regard him and respect him as a spiritual leader as a Nobel laureate," he said.

"Countries have got national interest and that will not take away the respect that countries have for someone like Dalai Lama," Morule added.

According to a report in Cape Times newspaper yesterday, the Dalai Lama was refused entry into South Africa, Nangsa Choedon, the representative, said.

Officials from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation called her to say the Tibetan spiritual leader's visa was denied.