India denounces Pakistan for sabotage of iftar, seeks investigation

Islamabad, June 2 (IANS) India on Sunday denounced the virtual sabotage of an iftar hosted by India's envoy to Pakistan, saying it violated "all notions of civilized behaviour", and urged Islamabad to "urgently investigate" the incident."The disappointing chain of events on June 1 not only violate basic norms of diplomatic conduct but are against all notions of civilized behaviour," a statement from the Indian High Commission here said."Stopping diplomats and officials of the High Commission of India in Pakistan from discharging their diplomatic functions by intimidation and coercion is entirely counter-productive for our bilateral relationship," the statement said.Pakistani security personnel forcibly stopped visitors, mainly Pakistanis, from attending the iftar hosted by Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria at Hotel Serena here on Saturday. They also misbehaved with Indian diplomats.The statement said that India had strongly protested to Pakistan over the gross intimidation of guests invited for the event.
--IANS rak/mr/pg