Monday Musing
[ M. Doley ]
It is truly heartbreaking that three athletes from Arunachal Pradesh could not participate in the ongoing Hangzhou Asian Games through no fault of their own.
The three wushu players were Onilu Tega, Nyeman Wangsu, and Mepung Lamgu. They were compelled to withdraw from the Asian Games because they were denied accreditation and were offered stapled visas for the Games by the host country, China.
They were the first three athletes from the state to be selected for the Asian Games. All of them are students of the Sangay Lhaden Sports Academy. They are young and promising players and were among the country’s medal hopes. They were gold medal winners at the 36th National Games held in Gujarat last year.
Not being able to participate in the Games is a significant loss for them and for the state, as such an opportunity may not come twice. The government’s recent announcement to provide incentives to the three wushu players according to the sports policy and to treat them as participants of the Games will go a long way in encouraging them to pursue sports seriously.
In fact, the Indian Government should have withdrawn the entire national team from the ongoing Asian Games, sending a strong message to China.
In July, India had withdrawn the entire wushu team from the World University Games, held in Chengdu, China from July 28th, after the same three wushu players from Arunachal were issued stapled visas by China.
The Indian government has repeatedly protested China’s practice of issuing stapled visas to citizens from Arunachal, emphasizing that there should be no discrimination based on domicile in the visa regime for Indian citizens. Political parties, student unions, and various other organizations in the state should exert pressure on the government to raise the issue with China at the highest level.
Since the issue of stapled visas is linked to progress in the boundary dispute negotiations, India must work with China to develop a clearly defined policy to resolve it.
Since 2011, there have been several instances where people from Arunachal Pradesh, mostly athletes, have been unable to travel to China.
In 2014, China had requested India not to include youth from Arunachal in the delegation scheduled to travel to China as part of the youth exchange program. The Ministry of External Affairs had canceled the trip.
According to reports, in 2012, India had excluded an Arunachali Air Force official from a military delegation following Chinese objections.
In January 2011, weightlifter Yukar Sibi and team manager Abraham K. Techi were prevented from boarding a flight to Beijing due to stapled visas issued by the Chinese embassy. In the same year, the Chinese embassy had issued stapled visas to three karate players and two officials from Arunachal.
In 2013, archers Maselo Mihu and Sorang Yumi were prevented from participating in the Youth World Archery Championship due to the same issue.
In 2016, Bamang Tago, who was appointed to lead an Indian badminton contingent, was denied a visa by the Chinese government.
