It was a day of protests against Indian statements by the Pakistan government on Wednesday, both in Islamabad and Delhi. Sources told The Hindu that senior officials of the Pakistan High Commission met with MEA officials to demand an end to what they called “misleading reports against Pakistan.”
The officials complained after photographs of a Pakistani diplomat, Mohammad Idrees, who was refused visa by the Indian government were shown on television channels. Indian officials said the decision was taken over the diplomat’s alleged “intelligence links with LeT and Taliban,” but denied releasing the details.
In Islamabad the Foreign Ministry issued a statement calling the reports on Mr. Idrees’s ISI links “factually incorrect”, but confirmed that India’s “delay in issuance” of visa had made them re-assign the officer to another embassy.
New inflection The meeting in South Block, which lasted about 45 minutes, marks a new inflection point in tensions between India and Pakistan over the past few weeks with strong statements by both governments against each other.
The diplomatic clearance that was denied is also the latest round in visa rows between both countries after India denied entry to a 6-member Pakistani wrestling team hoping to attend Cadet Asian Wrestling championship in Delhi starting on Thursday.
Earlier, Pakistan had denied two separate applications for yoga instructors to travel to Islamabad for International Yoga Day functions.
According to diplomatic sources, the ICCR had sent a visa application for one instructor in March this year, and sent another name to the Pakistan High Commission after the visa was denied.
On Tuesday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said India had to make other arrangements for holding the celebrations as “Pakistan’s mindset became clear when they rejected visa to our yoga teacher.”
According to sources, diplomats of other countries will attend the June 21 celebrations being held in the High Commission in Islamabad but Pakistani officials are unlikely to be present.
Earlier in May, Pakistan had accused India of not giving visas to a nine-member Ju-Jitsu Federation, which was supposed to participate in the first South Asian & Central Asian Ju-Jitsu Championship in Bengaluru.
Also on Wednesday, Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz criticised PM Modi for calling Pakistan a “nuisance” and accusing it of “encouraging terror” during a speech in Bangladesh.
Addressing the Pakistani Senate, Mr. Aziz said “Such statements not only vitiate the atmosphere but put a question mark on India’s sincerity to establish good neighbourly relationship with Pakistan.”
(With additional reporting by Smriti Kak Ramachandran)
