New Delhi: Pakistani security guards on Saturday, June 1, stopped Indian diplomats from attending an Iftar party hosted by the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad, even after they were invited for the same. Reportedly, numerous guests trying to attend an iftar party hosted by him were harassed and forced to leave the venue.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Arif Alvi were among those who were invited to the event but they skipped it. Others who were invited included politicians, community leaders, heads of Sufi shrines, academics, writers and civil society activists.
An invitee, Pakistan Peoples Party leader Farhatullah Babar, tweeted that when he got to the Serena Hotel, where the party was being hosted, it was barricaded and when he tried to enter, he was told that the Iftar had been cancelled.
“When insisted, I was told to use other gate. Other gate also closed and told to go back to front gate again. What’s going on, something fishy,” his tweet read.
Some invitees, however, made it to the event.
After the fiasco, Bisaria offered a public apology using diplomatic language saying, “I want to apologize to all the friends who were subject to some extra scrutiny outside. Thank you so much. Many friends have been stopped outside.”
He later told a media outlet that the incident was counter to better relations between India and Pakistan.
A source told news agency ANI that some of the invitees were contacted from “masked numbers” and were threatened with “consequences” if they attended the Iftar.
Reportedly, the sabotage of the Indian iftar party at Hotel Serena here was carried out by Pakistani security agencies including intelligence personnel not in uniform. This seems to come as a retaliation to an incident on May 28 in New Delhi, where invitees to an Iftar party at the Pakistan High Commission were subjected to similar harassment by the police.
In response to the incident, Jammu & Kashmir National Conference leader Omar Abdullah tweeted, “It was stupid when we did it outside the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi and it’s stupid when it’s done outside our’s in Islamabad,” and called out Pakistan for their “tit for tat diplomacy” and urged them to “stop this nonsense”.
An Iftar party has been hosted by the Indian mission to Pakistan for 12 years now, a tradition that was started by Sibi George (who is currently serving as India’s Ambassador to Switzerland).
With inputs from IANS
