Pak restricts Indian envoy
Bisaria stopped from going to Gurdwara in Pak
India on Saturday summoned Pakistan’s deputy high commissioner here and lodged a strong protest over denial of permission to Indian envoy in Islamabad and other consular officials to visit Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Pakistan and meet visiting Indian pilgrims.
It was conveyed to Pakistan that preventing Indian high commission officials from discharging their consular responsibilities was in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, and the 1974 Pakistan-India Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines.
The ministry of external affairs (MEA), in a statement issued here, said that Pakistan’s deputy high commissioner Syed Haider Shah was summoned and a strong protest was lodged over the denial of access to Indian high commissioner Ajay Bisaria and consular officials on Saturday to visiting Indian pilgrims at Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Mr Bisaria, accompanied by his wife, had to return to Islamabad without visiting the gurdwara at Hasan Abdal near Rawalpindi despite having obtained permissions for the visit in advance.
India on Saturday summoned Pakistan’s deputy high commissioner here and lodged a strong protest over denial of permission to Indian envoy and other consular officials to visit Gurdwara Panja Sahib and meet visiting Indian pilgrims.
A strong protest was also registered by the Indian high commission in Islamabad, the ministry said.
“Concerns have also been conveyed at repeated attempts by entities in Pakistan to extend support to secessionist movements in India and incite Indian pilgrims, and Pakistan authorities were asked to ensure that no such activity is carried out from Pakistan soil,” it said.
Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, which organised the pilgrims’ visit to Pakistan, questioned why Mr Bisaria was not allowed to meet the visitors despite some pilgrims having asked Pakistan organisers to facilitate a meeting with Indian high commissioner and other high commission officials.