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Business Recorder
4 days ago
- Politics
- Business Recorder
Saif-led KP team arrives in Beijing
PESHAWAR: A 12-member Pakistani delegation led by Advisor to KP CM on Information, Barrister Dr. Muhammad Ali Saif, arrived in Beijing on Sunday following visits to Urumqi and Kashgar. The delegation comprises prominent religious scholars, academics, and political figures. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs received the group with a warm welcome. During their stay in Beijing, the delegation visited China's first official mosque and held a detailed meeting with the leadership of the Islamic Association of China, including the Chairman and Vice Chairman. The delegation was briefed on the current state of Islamic affairs in China. Officials shared that there are approximately 35,000 mosques, 55,000 imams, and more than a dozen active Islamic centers across the country. Beijing alone hosts 72 mosques. Additionally, the Islamic Association operates eight sub-divisions nationwide and organizes various national-level religious competitions. The briefing also highlighted the availability of Quran and Hadith translations in the Chinese language. It was noted that 10,000 Chinese Muslims performed Hajj this year, and several students are currently pursuing religious education at Al-Azhar University in Egypt. Barrister Dr. Saif expressed gratitude on behalf of Pakistan and termed the visits to Urumqi, Kashgar, and Beijing highly productive. Other delegation members included Mufti Zubair Ashraf Usmani (Vice President, Darul Uloom Karachi), Maulana Abdul Qudoos Muhammadi (Spokesperson, Wifaq-ul-Madaris), Mufti Anwar Shah (Head, Jamia Ahsanul Uloom, Karachi), Haji Muhammad Ibrar (Tablighi Jamaat), Maulana Muhammad Ahmad (Darul Uloom Haqqania) and Syed Shah Faisal (Sadat Movement). The delegation invited Chinese Islamic leaders to visit Pakistan and offered free education, accommodation, and essential facilities for Chinese students in Pakistani religious institutions. They emphasized the importance of strengthening bilateral religious and academic ties and acknowledged the efforts of Israr Madani and the International Research Council for Religious Affairs in facilitating this initiative. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Minister for Religious Affairs Sahibzada Adnan Qadri and Minister for Social Welfare Syed Qasim Ali Shah praised the visit as a significant step in Pakistan-China relations. Syed Usama Ajmal (Chairman, Pakistan Peace Council) and Syed Shah Faisal also expressed their appreciation to the Chinese government and Islamic Association. Dr. Zia-ul-Haq presented copies of the 'Paigham-e-Pakistan' document to Chinese counterparts, highlighting its message of peace and unity. The Chinese hosts also arranged visits for the delegation to the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, and other key historical and cultural sites. The visit concluded with an exchange of souvenirs, marking a meaningful step towards enhanced religious, educational, and cultural cooperation between Pakistan and China. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Time of India
24-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
India reopens doors: Tourist Visas for Chinese travellers resumes today after a gap of 5 years
Good news for Chinese travellers wanting to explore India! In a recent update shared on (Akashvani), India has started issuing tourist visas to Chinese nationals from 24th July, 2025, after a long pause of five years. Tourist visas can be applied online on the official website. The news was shared via an official notice posted online and on Chinese social media, that the applicants can start applying for the visas from Thursday (July 24, 2025). The visas can be obtained after an appointment at the Indian Embassy in Beijing and other consulates in Shanghai and Guangzhou. The information shared also mentioned that the Chinese citizens can apply for a tourist visa after filling an online application and personally submitting their passport and other required documents to the Indian Visa Application Centres. Those planning to apply for visa must know that the Indian Visa Application Centers in China are located at: Beijing : 5th Floor, Block A, Guangcheng Plaza, No. 18 East Third Ring North Road, Chaoyang District Shanghai : Room 11B38, No. 2299 West Yan'an Road, Changning District Guangzhou : Room 2401A, North Tower, Fuli Yingli Building, No. 3-2 Huacheng Avenue, Tianhe District China reacts Soon after the announcement, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) spokesperson also took to social media, and announced, 'We take note of India's resumption of tourist visas for Chinese citizens. This is a positive move. Easing cross-border travel is widely beneficial. China will maintain communication and consultation with India to further facilitate travel between the two countries.' Why was the gap There's no denying that Asia's two most powerful nations and neighbours did not share a good relationship in the last five years due to diplomatic issues. It was a bad time for tourists as it was really difficult for Indian and Chinese travellers to explore or holiday in each other's nations. Apparently, the political tension between India and China escalated after the COVID-19 pandemic. Several acts of violence were reported between the two militaries after Chinese troops started marching. Soon after, India and China cancelled most visa services between them, including the tourist visas. It is definitely a positive move that will make travellers in both countries happy!
The Hindu
19-07-2025
- The Hindu
Tibet in translation: how the capital city of Lhasa has been reshaped, and rewritten
The changes in Tibet's Lhasa are perhaps most evident in the heart of the old city, Barkhor Square, where the revered Jokhang Temple stands. Built in 639 CE by the 'first king of unified Tibet', Songtsen Gampo, the deities of the Buddha were brought by his two wives, Tang Dynasty's Princess Wencheng and Princess Bhrikuti from Nepal. Built around this temple, where Buddhists would do a daily parikrama, was a bustling market. In 2007, it was packed with stalls selling jewellery, handicrafts, wooden bowls, prayer flags, incense and food. Today, Barkhor stands as an empty piazza, with shops at the far ends of the square. Watch: The developing city of Tibet - Lhasa | Kailash Manasarovar Yatra Decades-long transformation In 2012, as part of a drive to give Lhasa a facelift, the stalls were cleared, and street vendors moved from outside the Jokhang temple, and along the main Youthok Lam (street) that leads to the Potala Palace. The signage is now almost entirely in Chinese, and the shopkeepers belong to China's Han ethnic majority unlike in the past, when they were mostly Tibetan. Many of those moved out are now housed in a multi-story concrete mall, Tibet Market. On the ground floor, the main corridor has more Han shopkeepers, with Tibetans relegated to the lines behind or floors above. Inside the Jokhang Temple, and at the opera, Princess Wencheng, which has been performed in Lhasa and other parts of the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) for more than a decade, the Chinese queen, and link to Buddhism are played up over the ties to Nepal and India. This summer, Lhasa hosted another opera — a combination of a local epic, King Gesar, with the Confucian Shi Jing (Book of Poems). The three most visible changes at Barkhor Square — infrastructural, demographic and cultural — represent the transformation of Tibet over the past few decades. As a member of three Indian journalist delegations invited to Lhasa by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I have witnessed these changes during visits in 2007, 2014 and June 2025. Infrastructural changes After annexing Tibet in 1950, most of the Chinese government's planning focused on security, especially concerning Tibetan Buddhism and monks. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), Jokhang Temple was closed for worship. But, by the turn of the century, there was a shift towards controlling the region through a blitzkrieg of investment. China's 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-2005), cleared by the National People's Congress, allocated over $4 billion for infrastructure development in Tibet, which rose to $21 billion in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10), for developing expressways, a high-speed rail project, and more than 300 key projects. The launch of the Beijing-Lhasa train in 2006, which defied the steep climb to the Qinghai plateau, was hailed as an engineering marvel but speeded the influx of mainland Chinese to the region. The drive from the airport to Lhasa city, which once took almost three hours, now takes just 45 minutes due to tunnels bored through the mountains, and solar panels everywhere indicate a renewable energy transition. Experts and Tibetan activists say that the rapid construction of roads, tunnels, airports, and concrete cities like New Lhasa, across the Kyichu (Lhasa River) from Old Lhasa, has caused environmental damage, speeded global warming, and melted glaciers in a land that cradles the world's highest mountains and is the source of many of Asia's rivers. According to our tour-guides, rising temperatures in Lhasa and disappearing snow, even over Mount Kailash, are palpable. The construction, mining and malls mandated by the Chinese government's development plans have brought many workers and mainland Chinese seeking jobs. We meet many in the shopping areas as well as the government offices we visit. From 2010 to 2020, the population of Tibet (or Xizang, as the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) mandated the region's six prefectures be called in official documents) grew from about 2.7 million to 3.1 million. But the percentage of Tibetans or ethnic minorities dropped from nearly 90% to 86%, indicating a demographic change. Linguistic politics The language in Lhasa has shifted — Mandarin Chinese (Putonghua) is taught in schools to inculcate 'national unification and strengthen ethnic unity' through a 'modern education' according to a 2023 CPC paper. All official documents and signage now use the Chinese name 'Xizang' and not Tibet. At Lhasa's School Number 8 — where many international delegations are brought — the main language of instruction appears to be Mandarin, though we were taken to a class where students were chanting in Tibetan, and another where a scholar was practising the Tibetan script. This is a sensitive subject for the Chinese government, amid UN Special Rapporteurs' criticism that about 1 million Tibetan children had been 'separated from families' and pushed into schools that sought to 'assimilate Tibetans into majority Han culture'. While the CPC paper details measures to continue the study of Tibetan Buddhism 'adapted to China's reality', it also lists cultural changes that are more obvious to the eye in Lhasa. Relocation projects for poorer and rural Tibetans resemble Beijing hutongs (alleyways lined with houses) rather than smaller, colourful Tibetan homes seen in the countryside. There, we meet Tibetan families in a room where photographs of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Chairman Mao are prominently displayed. Security forces, that we saw regularly in 2007, patrolling Lhasa streets with riot control gear and cattle-prongs to deal with self-immolation protests, are less visible. In busy areas, we see high-tech police surveillance vans, however. The disappearance of links to India, a regular travel destination for Tibetans now more restricted by a heavily controlled Nepal-Tibet border, is evident. In 2007, stalls at Barkhor sold Bollywood DVDs, shops stocked Indian products, and monks at Jokhang and the Potala Palace spoke to us in Hindi. Two decades later, very few speak, or admit to speaking, Hindi at all. Erasing the Dalai Lama The biggest change centres on erasing any reference to the 14th Dalai Lama, now 90 years old. He escaped from Lhasa 65 years ago, but his influence remains a concern for the Chinese government. All photographs of him are banned, and worshipping him is illegal. However, in 2007, I met Tibetans who, recognising me as an Indian, asked about him and showed photos concealed in their jackets, or behind shop counters. In 2014, during a brief period of openness following Chinese government talks with Dalai Lama representatives, we visited his summer home in Norbulingka, where Tibetans thronged to offer khadas (silk scarves) to his belongings — furniture, a radio set, even a towel rack. This time, we are told Norbulingka is closed. I ask a young man in Barkhor if he is following the Dalai Lama's birthday celebrations in Dharamshala. 'Yes,' he says, pointing to his chest as he looks around furtively, and adds, 'but only inside my heart.' suhasini.h@
The Hindu
04-07-2025
- The Hindu
Kailash Manasarovar Yatra: Pilgrims' progress
Damini Pandya, 68, had taken a vow of silence for eight days before she reached the clear, ice-blue waters of the Manasarovar Lake in Tibet. There, the retired government officer from Ahmedabad in Gujarat gazed at the majestic snow-capped Kailash mountain in the distance. It had taken her 17 days to get there, walking for three days with low oxygen at an average altitude of about 15,000 feet above sea level. Breaking into a wide smile, she splashed cold water over her head — a ritual that Hindu pilgrims believe purifies the body and soul. Eight days after she began her maun vrat (vow of silence), Pandya crossed into India at the Nathu La Pass in Sikkim. Breaking her vow, she said that the silence had helped her absorb the spiritual significance of the yatra. 'I did not utter a word for days because I wanted to be with god. I broke my vow after I entered India, but I don't have words to describe the cosmic energy I felt in Lord Shiva's abode,' she said. Pandya and more than 30 other yatris spent a week in Tibet's Ngari prefecture, where they trekked the 52-km circumference of Mount Kailash, called the parikrama or the kora. This was Pandya's second solo trip after 2019. She entered Tibet through the Lipulekh pass in Uttarakhand, which, she said, was a shorter route compared to the journey through Nathu La pass. It may well be her last visit to Mount Kailash, as the Chinese government has restricted the yatra to those under the age of 70, given the high altitude and concerns about illnesses. The youngest member of the group, Arpit Rai, 19, from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, who travelled with his father Shashikant Rai, 55, said he is keen to return to Mount Kailash. 'Between Kashi (another name for Varanasi) and Kailash, Shivji (Lord Shiva) is the common factor. Perhaps Shivji wanted us to visit together for the first time. It was an unforgettable journey despite the long travel time in altitudes we are not used to,' he said. The yatris travelled for 14 days by bus covering nearly 3,000 km and took three days to do the parikrama by foot, covering around 50 km. Geopolitical considerations Damini Pandya and the Rais were part of the first batch of Indian pilgrims since 2019 who were allowed to cross into Tibet as part of the Kailash-Manasarovar Yatra, organised by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2020, the COVID-19 lockdown; the violent clashes between the Indian Army and the People's Liberation Army at Galwan Valley along the Line of Actual Control; and stand-offs at other points such as Demchok, about 250 km from Kailash Manasarovar, ensured the yatra was suspended. Four years later, after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Delhi and Beijing began discussions on normalising relations and restoring a number of different mechanisms between them. The yatra, held between June and August each year due to weather conditions, was prioritised, even as other mechanisms, such as direct flights between India and China, are set to restart. Suman Lata, who recently retired as a school teacher in Delhi, said that while crossing over, the group did not feel any of the tensions between the neighbours that have dominated bilateral ties over the past few years. 'We have no link with politics, so we don't think about such things. I can only say that the Indian government sent us off very well and the Chinese government has received us extremely well too,' she said. Lata was among the 13 women on the group. Like her, half of them had come alone on the yatra. For officials on both sides, the final go-ahead in February 2025 presented a daunting task. They had to build facilities along the way in a short period of time. These included reviving immigration posts at various entry points for the yatris, providing rest stops, oxygen banks, and medical facilities. At the hostel in Zhunzhui Pu, near Taklakot, where the pilgrims stopped for a night before beginning the Kailash parikrama, extra tents were set up inside the atrium to accommodate more people. This is a part of Tibet where people live off subsistence farming. Tourism is the only means of making a living, local workers said, adding that the resumption of the yatra has come as a relief for them. According to the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra website, yatris who pay about ₹3 lakh for arrangements need to budget about 990 Renminbi or RMB (₹12,000) to pay the local porters and 2,370 RMB (about ₹29,000) for pony handlers. In addition, many of the porters do odd jobs for the yatris and make some extra cash, just enough to get by during the brutal winters. During the years when the yatra stood suspended, pilgrims came in via Nepali tour groups. They included many people of Indian origin from the U.S. and the U.K. But the yatra, and Indian pilgrims in particular, have been a mainstay for the local workers in Tibet. Preparing for the journey According to an External Affairs Ministry response in Parliament, the number of pilgrims allowed to join the yatra each year, which is negotiated between the foreign ministries of India and China, has fluctuated every year since the route was reopened in 1981. In 2015, there were 999 pilgrims. By 2019, there were 1,364. Each of the 15 batches of yatris (10 via Nathu-La pass and five via Lipulekh pass) of about 50 pilgrims this time includes two liaison officers — government officials who apply to join the yatra; 2-4 cooks; and a medical officer from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. Each of the pilgrims is chosen by a computerised lottery. Of about 5,000 applicants, 750 were chosen this year. They then had to undergo strenuous medical tests to be proclaimed fit to undertake the journey. 'Despite the acclimatisation for two days each at two centres in Sikkim — one at 11,000 feet and the other at 13,500 feet — some 30 out of the 33 pilgrims in my batch experienced high-altitude sickness and breathlessness at times,' said the medical officer, who did not want to be named. 'My job was to monitor the health of the pilgrims and ensure that those with hypertension and diabetes take their medicines regularly. A few experienced cramps, but they were too excited by the experience to let these affect them,' he said. One of the cooks, who also did not wish to be named, said it was a challenge to prepare vegetarian food for people from so many different parts of India. But previous experience with the armed forces helped. 'When one caters to soldiers with different acquired tastes from all over the country, one finds the formula to make something that appeals to everyone. We focused on pulse-based items and vegetables provided by the Chinese authorities,' he said. While many pilgrims praised the arrangements, some expressed discomfort with the sanitation facilities along the way. According to retired Wing Commander of the Indian Air Force Sadanand Jakhare, they were 'comparable to public toilets in India'. He said, 'The Chinese officials were hospitable, although restrictive and not very expressive. They declined to let us explore the countryside, even a little beyond the designated places. We were under constant watch.' However, he added that he was 'impressed' by the roads and the use of solar power that he saw along the way. Some people were also unhappy about the restrictions on worship. Pilgrims are not allowed to take a full dip in Manasarovar Lake. Officials said the practice was discontinued in 2016 after Indian pilgrims were found using soap to wash themselves in the lake, and leaving items of clothing and jewellery there. 'The yatra is not for comfort,' said Devi Prasad Ketkar, a retired manager from Mumbai, who was on the pilgrimage with his wife Pradnya. Ketkar also served on the organising committees for the group. 'There is no place for negative energy or negative comments during our visit here… visiting Mount Kailash and doing the parikrama gives us all the answers we need,' he said, as others in the group nodded. As the pilgrims stepped into the waters of Manasarovar Lake, the air was filled with chants of 'Om Namah Shivaya', 'Om Parvati Pataye Namah', and 'Har Har Mahadev'. A melange of faiths In Hindu scriptures, Mount Kailash is believed to be the home of Lord Shiva and his consort Parvati, who live there with their sons Kartikeya (Muruga) and the elephant-headed god, Ganesha. Lake Manasarovar, where the gods and goddesses are believed to descend for a bath every day, was created, according to the scriptures, by Lord Brahma from a part of his brain (manas means mind and sarovar means lake in Sanskrit). With its peak at 6,638 metres (21,778 feet), Mount Kailash has not been summitted in modern memory. After 2001, the Chinese government banned attempts to climb it due to the religious sensitivities of different faiths. Mount Kailash has four rock faces (north, south, east, west), with characteristic snow ridges on one side. The features of the mountain are believed to resemble the 'three eyes' of Lord Shiva, specifically the tripendra (three lines of ash worn on the forehead), and his spine. This makes it a marvel for pilgrims as they circumambulate the mountain. Along the route, there are devotees of other religions as well. Buddhists believe that Gautam Buddha's (Siddhartha's) mother Maya visited Lake Manasarovar. They also say that Mount Kailash, or Mount Meru as it is called, is the source of spiritual energy in the world. For Jains, the founder of the faith Rishabhadeva, known as the first Tirthankara, is believed to have achieved salvation at the mountain. For followers of the Bon tradition, the shamanistic religion that Tibetans adhered to until the 6th century King Songtsen Gampo introduced Buddhism, bringing texts from India, the mountain and the lake hold a special significance. And for nature-worshippers, Mount Kailash and Manasarovar Lake represent the most mysterious of the Himalayan 'mountain of mountains' and 'source of all rivers', with the Ganga, Brahmaputra, Indus, and other major rivers emanating from these sites. It is this melange of faiths that keeps travellers going on the rocky and rugged paths towards the sacred sites. With oxygen levels on the high plateau a significant 30% lower than in the plains, the area is tough for human habitation. Pilgrims often need dozes of high-altitude medicine — both allopathic and traditional Tibetan and Chinese potions made from extracts of the herb Rhodiola — as well as portable oxygen cannisters to keep going on the arduous trek. Changing temperatures While the weather is cold, dry, and harsh the year around, local tour guides and shopkeepers admitted that rising temperatures have become a concern as well. In the past few years, environmental agencies, including China's meteorological authority, have warned about climate change and global warming in the Tibetan plateau. They have said that there is a possibility of higher temperatures, glacial lakes overflooding, and a thinning of the permafrost, especially as the Chinese government undertakes major rail, road, and tunnelling infrastructure across the plateau. In 2019, the Indian Ministry of Culture submitted an application to UNESCO for 'Sacred Mountain Landscape and Heritage Routes', requesting world heritage status for Kailash Manasarovar-linked areas on the Indian side, to protect the ecosystem around the holy sites better. The Ministry also said that a similar exercise could be carried out on the Chinese side. But given security considerations, and the fact that the Pulan airport close to Kailash Manasarovar also serves as a major military and air force base, the area is unlikely to be opened up for the kind of scrutiny that international agencies would require. For the yatris, however, what counts is the exhilaration of coming close to what they believe is the doorway to heaven. Raj and Vinod Yadav, former bankers in their late 60s, said that they have been on the yatra multiple times. Raj said that this was her 25th visit to Kailash Manasarovar, while her husband Vinod had travelled for the fifth time. The Yadavs went on their first trip together in 2001 and then again the next year. 'The pilgrimage became an addiction,' Raj said. 'I kept going every year, sometimes thrice a year, through all the routes in India and Nepal, including via choppers and flights from Kathmandu to Lhasa.' She is disappointed that China has restricted the age of pilgrims. 'There is something that keeps drawing me to Kailash Manasarovar,' she said. 'I intend to go again in August via Nepal, two months before I become ineligible.' She has already started making plans for her next and possibly last tryst with the sacred mountain and lake that remains a dream for many. Suhasini Haidar was part of a delegation of journalists invited by the Embassy of China in India to cover the first Kailash Manasarovar Yatra since 2019, while Rahul Karmakar reported from Sikkim
Observer
31-05-2025
- Observer
What are the options for visa-free entry for Omanis?
MUSCAT: The summer outbound travel season begins in the Sultanate of Oman, but citizens are required to take note of the distinct visa requirements of each destination. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently announced a new visa-free entry policy for citizens of four Gulf countries: Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain. from June 9, 2025, to June 8, 2026, allowing ordinary passport holders from the four countries to enter China without a visa for stays of up to 30 days. The Foreign Ministry said that the mutual visa exemption agreement between the Sultanate of Oman and the Russian Federation will be effective upon completion of the necessary procedures by both parties. According to options include visiting without a prior visa, visa-on-arrival countries and Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) countries. Oman passport holders can travel without a visa to the following countries that include Albania, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belarus, Botswana, Brunei, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Cook Islands, Dominica, Ecuador, Egypt, Georgia, Haiti, Hong Kong, Iran, Kazakhstan, Jordan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyztan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mauritius, Micronesia, Morocco, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Ukraine, the UAE, Uzbekistan, Türkiye and Zambia among others. Omani nationals are eligible for a visa on arrival in the following 34 countries, some of which include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Iraq, Maldives, Nepal, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Yemen. Oman passport holders are eligible to obtain an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) before visiting the following 3 countries (Kenya, New Zealand and the United Kingdom). An eTA is a digital travel document required for eligible travellers who are visa-exempt for a specific countr, and it can be obtained online before travel. Omanis are required to apply for an electronic visa (eVisa) before travelling to 32 countries, including Bhutan, India, South Africa, Taiwan, Uganda and Vietnam. Oman passport holders need to apply for a regular visa before travelling to around 113 countries, including those in the Schengen area. "Visa processing times, fees and required documents vary by the traveller's nationality and the destination country. Marita Bachhav, regional head of VFS Global, which processes visa documents and collects applications for most countries, said that Europe remains a popular destination for travellers from Oman and demand for visas, especially during peak travel seasons like summer holidays, is higher than other times of the year. "Travellers can apply for Schengen visas up to six months before the intended date of travel and we urge applicants to plan and apply for their visas well in advance to avoid any delays," she said. According to GCC or Oman residents can travel without a visa or with a visa on arrival to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Indonesia, Jordan, Maldives, Nepal, Seychelles, Tanzania and Zanzibar, apart from countries within the GCC.
