India on Wednesday summoned Pakistan High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit, for cancelling an event of India’s High Commissioner to Pakistan, Gautam Bambawale, without a valid reason.
“Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit was summoned today to Ministry of External Affairs and was conveyed the concern of the government of India by Secretary (West) on discourtesy to Indian High Commissioner. He was also conveyed our hope that our accredited diplomats in Pakistan will be allowed to discharge their normal functions without hindrance,” Vikas Swarup, spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said.
Basit was summoned by Secretary (West), Sujata Mehta, for not allowing Bambawale carry on with his event that was supposed to take place in Karachi. The cancellation, it seems, was done at the last minute.
Apparently, the reason why the event was cancelled seemed to be linked to what Bambawale had said during a function on Tuesday that was organised by the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations.
The Indian High Commissioner had raised strong objections to Pakistan’s interference in the Kashmir unrest. He also spoke of the reasons why Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to the Balochistan issue during his Independence Day speech.
“There are problems in both India and Pakistan and you (Pakistan) should focus on resolving your problems before looking into the problems of other countries. The Prime Minister, in his August 15 Independence Day speech, only referred to the letters he had received,” he had said.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, PM Modi sent out a strong signal to the world at the G20 Summit in China, against Pakistan when he said there is only “one single nation” that is promoting terrorism.