The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday said that the abrupt cancellation of Indian envoy’s address on Tuesday was carried out on the instructions of the security agencies of Pakistan.
The alleged “discourtesy” shown to Indian High Commissioner began the latest round of bickering between two sides with New Delhi summoning Pakistani envoy on Wednesday to demand that Islamabad should let Indian diplomats based in Pakistan to work “without hindrance.”
The latest round of exchange was triggered after the event at the Chamber, where High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale was to deliver a speech on India-Pakistan trade, was cancelled at the last moment without notice.
“We showed due courtesies to the Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale. He was the chief guest of the event and the event was organised in his honour. But we began receiving phone calls just a few hours before the event was to begin asking us to cancel the programme,” said Aamir Hassan, media-in-charge of the Chamber, confirming that the phone calls came from Pakistani security agencies.
Mr. Hassan said the trade body was dismayed as the cancellation of the event cast a shadow on Pakistan-India trade ties. “We are concerned about the reference to “discourtesy” to the Indian envoy and will shortly issue a formal statement regarding the whole episode. We had to cancel the event of Tuesday but would be ready to hold a similar event for Pakistan-India trade in near future,” Mr. Hassan said speaking over telephone from Karachi.
