IAF officer from Arunachal denied visa by China

New Delhi, Jan 8 (ANI): China has denied visa to a senior IAF officer hailing from Arunachal Pradesh, who was to be part of the team scheduled to travel to Beijing from January 10.

According to certain media reports, China refused to grant visa to Group Captain M. Panging, an IAF Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter pilot posted at Tezpur, Assam, because he hailed from Arunachal Pradesh.

The Indian delegation had planned a four-day trip to Beijing under a bilateral defence exchange programme. The 30 representatives of the army, navy and air force were to spend time in Beijing, Nanjing and Shanghai.

Meanwhile, according to sources, as of now the visit is on, but with reduced strength of officers in the delegation. .

This move has, however, not gone down well with India that has expressed its disappointment and lodged its protest with China.

It may be recalled here that this is not the first time that China has denied visa to an Indian military officer.

Lieutenant General BS Jaswal, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, was earlier denied visa by China in 2010 on the ground that he controlled operations a disputed area, Jammu and Kashmir.

India had then suspended defence exchanges with China as a reaction to the denial of visa to Lieutenant General BS Jaswal. The defence exchanges were, however, later restored between the two sides. (ANI)