ISLAMABAD - In an unexpected development, China has denied Pakistani nationals direct access to Chinese visas from Singapore while Indians would not be facing any such restrictions. It has been learnt from well placed sources that the Chinese Embassy in Singapore earlier this month issued a circular barring the direct entry of Pakistanis living in Singapore into China. The other two states whose nationals would be affected by this restriction include Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The nationals of all the three countries have to contact the respective foreign offices of these states, if they intend to acquire visas for China. The same circular instructs all the travel and visa processing agencies not to process visa requests from the aforementioned nationalities seeking Chinese visas from Singapore. In an email dated March 13, 2010, a copy of which is available with TheNation, a leading travel agency of Singapore informed its Pakistani clients, including those working for the World Bank that it could not process their visa requests for China on account of the instructions of the Chinese Embassy to bar their entry from Singapore to China. With immediate effect, CHINA VISA has stopped issuing visas for these nationalities - PAKISTAN- BANGLADESH- SRI LANKA - Kindly be advised accordingly, the email reads. While those Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and Sri Lankans who have Singapore passports would not be affected by this decision; however, thousands of citizens from the same countries who are not Singapore nationals but are contributing significantly in the socio-economic fibre of that country would directly suffer. A noteworthy number of businessmen, bankers, accountants, computer experts, doctors, and people from other important walks of life in Singapore hail from the South Asian region. The representatives of some Pakistani companies working in Singapore also reported that they previously were frequently visiting China for professional purposes but now they were facing immense difficulties after China imposed restrictions on Pakistanis to travel to China from Singapore. Ironically, India has been exempted from this restriction and Indian nationals are free to fly to China without any such visa hurdles that bind them to contact Indian Ministry of External Affairs to acquire Chinese visas from Singapore. The move could strain the longstanding and historical Sino-Pak relations due to the leverage provided to India in this case. Some diplomatic circles urged China to clarify its position on the matter or else this step would be deemed reflection of a change in Chinas policies in the South Asian region. TheNation contacted Chinese Embassy in Islamabad on Monday for comments. An official of the Embassys concerned section said that he was not authorised to publicly speak on any official matter and asked this correspondent to contact Mr Zhau, a senior official of the Embassy. However, despite repeated attempts at Zhaus official landline and personal cell numbers, he was not available for comments. When again tried in the evening, the mobile phone of Chinese diplomat was found to be switched off. Astonishingly, Pakistans Ministry of Foreign Affairs stands totally ignorant of the matter. When contacted, Foreign Office Spokesperson Abdul Basit said, Not to my knowledge, I havent seen anything whatsoever to this effect.