Johannesburg, Feb 3 (PTI) A South African court today dismissed a high-profile case filed by two opposition parties challenging the government's right to deny a visa to the Dalai Lama last year, apparently under Chinese pressure. Western Cape High Court Judge Elizabeth Baartman dismissed the application by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the Congress of the People with costs, South African Press Agency reported. The court noted that it was the Tibetan spiritual leader himself who withdrew his visa application. The Dalai Lama had cancelled his intended trip to South Africa to attend Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu's 80th birthday on October 4. The 76-year-old Nobel laureate had said that he had done so to avoid inconveniencing the South African government. The South African government's failure to grant the visa, however, sparked a public outcry with Tutu accusing President Jacob Zuma's administration of being "worse than the apartheid government". The IFP and Cope subsequently filed an application in the High Court for an order declaring Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma's handling of the matter unlawful and forcing her to treat future applications by the Dalai Lama fairly. IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi has invited the Dalai Lama to visit him in 2012. Rights activists say the South African government did not grant a visa to the Dalai Lama, allegedly under pressure from its largest trading partner China. Beijing is opposed to any official recognition for the Dalai Lama or allowing him high-profile visits to propagate his "splitist" ideology of separating Tibet from China. The Tibetan leader, who lives in exile in India, was also denied a visa by South Africa in 2009, but has visited the country thrice since its first democratic elections in 1994.
