India seeks consular access to its national detained in China as terror suspect

NEW DELHI: India has asked the Chinese government for consular access to its national who has been arrested on terror charges. Official sources said the Indian embassy in Beijing will send an official to meet the man, who is being held with some others at the Ordos, Dongsheng detention centre in Inner Mongolia. He was initially detained for three days but that has now been extended to July 18.

The embassy was informed on Wednesday about the arrest of the Indian national, allegedly for watching propaganda videos of a banned group. He was part of a group of 20 tourists from an African charity group, Gift of the Givers Foundation, and was on a 47-day trip of China. The group members were arrested in Inner Mongolia, though Chinese news sources say 11 of them have been released. The Indian is still in detention.

The Indian embassy received a diplomatic note — note verbale — from Inner Mongolia saying the Indian national (his name is being withheld by the government for the present) was held under Article 120 of the criminal law of China. Officials here said the embassy sought details from the ministry of public security.

The others detained are South African and British citizens. They were reportedly arrested from the airport, and it was their tour operator who raised the alarm after he failed to hear from them for a couple of days.

The foundation describes itself as the "largest disaster response NGO of African origin on the African continent". Its website says it was "established on the instruction of a Sufi Sheik, Muhammed Saffer Effendi al Jerrahi (a spiritual teacher) in Istanbul, Turkey, on a Thursday evening, 6 August 1992".

It currently provides "life saving aid in the form of search and rescue teams, medical personnel, medical equipment, medical supplies, medicines, vaccines, anti-malarial medication, high energy and protein supplements, food and water to millions of people in 41 countries".