India on Saturday summoned Pakistan’s Deputy High Commissioner and lodged a strong protest over the denial of access to its envoy in Islamabad and 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 over the incident, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement. Deputy High Commissioner Syed Haider Shah was summoned and a strong protest lodged over the denial of access to Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria and consular officials to visit Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Pakistan’s Punjab province and meet the Indian pilgrims, despite a travel permission having been granted by Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the statement said. This is the second consecutive time Pakistan has denied access to the Indian High Commissioner to meet the Indian pilgrims. Indian organisers, Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), when contacted, expressed grave concern and dismay at the incident, despite the visiting pilgrims from India having asked Pakistan organisers to facilitate a meeting with the Indian High Commissioner and High Commission officials. It has been conveyed to Pakistan that preventing the Indian High Commission officials from discharging their consular responsibilities is in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, and the 1974 bilateral Protocol on visit to religious shrines.
