India’s denial of visas to Pak journos regretted

islamabad — The Foreign Office on Wednesday expressed disappointment at the Indian government’s decision to not issue visas to Pakistani journalists to cover Thrusday’s meeting on the Kartarpur Corridor.

A Pakistani delegation will visit India on Thursday as Indian and Pakistani officials will meet at Attari, near Amritsar, according to Indian media.

This will be followed by a visit to Islamabad of an Indian delegation on March 28.

Earlier in January, Pakistan had shared its draft of the proposed agreement on the Kartarpur Corridor with India and called for initiation of negotiations for its finalisation.

In February, after a bit of wrangling over the venue of the talks, the two countries had agreed in principle on reciprocal visits of officials for negotiating and finalising the agreement.

“It is regrettable that India has not given visas to Pakistani journalists for the Kartarpur meeting tomorrow,” said Dr Mohammad Faisal, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Wednesday.

Dr Faisal said that the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kartarpur Corridor in Pakistan last year was covered by more than 30 Indian journalists.

“They also met Prime Minister Imran Khan and were hosted by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi for a dinner during their stay,” he added.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reaffirmed its commitment to continuing negotiations on proposed Kartarpur Corridor agreement and announced that the two neighbouring countries would exchange visits by their respective delegations. —

It is regrettable that India has not given visas to Pakistani journalists for the Kartarpur meeting.

Dr Mohammad Faisal, Foreign Office spokesperson