India slams Pak curbs on envoy’s visit to gurdwara

New Delhi: India on Saturday summoned Pakistan’s deputy high commissioner here and lodged a strong protest over denial of permission to the Indian high commissioner 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, 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.

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 (SGPC), which organised the Indian pilgrims’ visit to Pakistan, expressed dismay over the incident. It questioned why Mr Bisaria was not allowed to meet the visitors despite the fact that some pilgrims from India asked Pakistan organisers to facilitate a meeting with Indian high commissioner and other high commission officials.

This is the second incident in two months of Pakistan preventing the Indian high commissioner from meeting visiting pilgrims from India. Indian diplomats and consular teams were denied access to around 1,800 Sikh devotees who arrived in Pakistan on April 12 at Wagah railway station ahead of visiting religious shrines. The consular team was also stopped from visiting Gurdwara Panja Sahib on April 14 to meet Indian pilgrims.

In the past, the standard practice has been that the Indian high commission’s consular team is attached with visiting pilgrims to perform consular and protocol duties like helping out in medical or family emergencies.

Meanwhile, Pakistan media reports claimed that Islamabad has dismissed the Indian claim that Mr Bisaria was denied access to the Sikh religious site.

Pakistan foreign office spokesman Mohammad Faisal, in a statement, said, gSikh pilgrims were protesting against maltreatment in India and release of controversial moviesc the Indian high commission was informed about the heightened pilgrim sentiments and he agreed to cancel his visit due to this concern,h Mr Faisal said.