Sri Lanka 'hurt' by Indian visa-on-arrival exclusion

Sri Lanka's government expressed "serious concern" and "hurt" here Thursday over India's decision not to extend visa-on-arrival scheme to Sri Lankans.

Responding to questions, Sri Lanka government spokesman and Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said he was personally disappointed and it was a move that would "leave a bad taste" but stressed that greater diplomatic engagement was needed to resolve differences between the two governments.

"I'm sure the external affairs ministry will look into this and engage with the Indian foreign ministry. Personally I'm shaken by it," Xinhua quoted Rambukwalla as telling reporters, insisting that as Sri Lanka's closest neighbour and largest trade partner, the move was regrettable.

India will extend visa-on-arrival to tourists of all nations barring eight, including Sri Lanka, Sudan and Iran, as it looks to boost tourism, India's Planning Minister Rajeev Shukla said last week.

"We have decided to extend the visa-on-arrival facility to tourists from 180 nations. It will take five to six months for the respective departments to put the required infrastructure in place. We hope to implement this from the next tourist season beginning October," he had said.

India currently offers visa-on-arrival to tourists from 11 countries like Finland, the Philippines, Singapore and Japan. The only exceptions to the new rule will be nationals from Pakistan, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Somalia.

India has denied that exempting Sri Lanka from the scheme was preconceived.

Indo-Sri Lankan relations have not been the warmest of late with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh skipping the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting hosted by Sri Lanka in November.

India has been strongly concerned over delayed political rights and power devolution promised to Sri Lanka's minority Tamil population after the end of a three-decade-long civil war in 2009.

The issues include allegations of war crimes, credible reconciliation and accountability measures in Sri Lanka and fishing issues in the waters shared by the two countries.

However, Rambukwella denied that there was a significant rift between the two nations.