India ready to issue visa to Karmapa Dorje, he is yet to apply: Source

India has conveyed to Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, considered the most influential Tibetan religious leader after the Dalai Lama, on multiple occasions that it was ready to give him a visa on his newly acquired passport of Commonwealth of Dominica, sources said on Thursday. However, Dorje, who is understood to be in the US, is yet to approach the Indian authorities for a visa. The sources strongly rejected reports that he was not being able to come to India as he was not given a visa.

The influential Buddhist religious leader came to India in 2000 after his dramatic escape from Tibet at the age of 14. Dorje has not approached India for a visa though he has been saying that he wants to come to India, the sources said.

The religious leader of the Buddhist Kagyu sect, who was living in India as a Tibetan refugee, has picked up a passport of the Commonwealth of Dominica in March, a Caribbean island nation. He had reportedly left India in May last year on a three-month visa.

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The sources said he has not yet conveyed to India about his Dominica passport and that it was time and again communicated to him that India was ready to issue him a visa. They further added that India never refused his request for travelling abroad and that every time he wished to go to any country, he was allowed.

India issues identity certificate to Tibetan refugees and Dorje was also given one but as he had acquired a foreign passport, the identity certificate automatically became invalid, it is learnt.

The sources said there was no issue relating to the identity certificate as the condition for the issuance of the document was very clear that it becomes invalid when anyone obtains a foreign passport.

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They said, "explicit instructions" were issued to Indian consulates in the US about the grant of visa to Dorje. Officially, India does not recognise Dorje as the 17 Karmapa Lama. At present, around 1.8 lakh Tibetan refugees are living in India. Asked whether India was ready to give him the multiple-entry visa, the sources evaded a direct reply.