Pak concerned over disruption of events featuring Ghulam Ali, Kasuri

Pakistan on Tuesday expressed concern at the cancellation and attempted disruption of events in India featuring Pakistani personalities and asked the Indian government to prevent such incidents.

Pakistan on Tuesday expressed concern at the cancellation and attempted disruption of events in India featuring Pakistani personalities and asked the Indian government to prevent such incidents.

“We have noted with concern attempts to disrupt functions organised in respect of prominent Pakistani personalities on visit to India,” the spokesperson of Pakistan’s foreign office said in a brief statement.

The spokesperson noted that a concert in Mumbai by Pakistani ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali was cancelled “because of threats from a fundamentalist organisation” while attempts were made to disrupt a function in Mumbai organised for former Pakistani foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri.

“There is a need to ensure that such incidents do not reoccur,” the statement said.

Ghulam Ali’s concerts in Mumbai and Pune were cancelled following threats from the Shiv Sena, which is part of the ruling coalition in Maharashtra.

The Shiv Sena had also threatened to disrupt an event organised for the launch of Kasuri’s new book “Neither A Hawk Nor A Dove: An Insider’s Account”.

India-Pakistan ties recently hit a new low after the cancellation of talks between the National Security Advisors over Islamabad’s insistence that the agenda should include the Kashmir issue.