E-Paper
Citizens of 41 nations blacklisted for visa violations
New Delhi: Citizens of 41 countries including the United States, United Kingdom and China are among 960 overseas-based Tablighi Jamaat members who have been blacklisted
New Delhi: Citizens of 41 countries including the United States, United Kingdom and China are among 960 overseas-based Tablighi Jamaat members who have been blacklisted by India for violating their visa conditions, according to an initial government assessment seen by Hindustan Times.
Around 400 more foreigners who took part in the Tablighi Jamaat congregation held last month in the Islamic missionary group headquarters in Delhi’s NIzamuddin, which has since emerged as a hotspot of the Coronavirus disease (Covid-19), and are in quarantine are also likely to be soon blacklisted, an official in MHA said.
The 960 people blacklisted include four citizens of the United States, nine of the United Kingdom and six of China.The most were from Indonesia (379), Bangladesh (110), Kyrgyzstan (77), Myanmar (63) and Thailand (65). There are 33 Sri Lankans, 75 Malaysians, 24 Iranians, 63 Myanmarese and 12 Vietnamese as well besides attendees from as far Djibouti in East Africa and Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean Islands.
The foreign participants in the Jamaat’s congregation entered India on tourist visas but participated in a religious event, a violation that invites the revocation of their visas and blacklisting for future travel.
On Thursday, the ministry of home affairs had said in a statement that 960 foreigners “present in India on tourist visas” had been blacklisted for their “involvement in activities of the Tablighi Jamaat.”
As many as 4,200 foreigners have thus far been blacklisted by the home ministry’s immigration department for flouting tourist visa norms and engaging in Tablighi activities, particularly missionary work, since 2015, according to government officials familiar with the matter.
