Kyrgyzstan recalls envoy from Pakistan over business forum amid India conflict

New Delhi: Kyrgyzstan has withdrawn its envoy from Islamabad for organising a CEO Forum in the middle of India-Pakistan conflict last week as the Central Asian country's President felt that such a forum could be viewed as a step that can jeopardise its ties with New Delhi.

The Kyrgyz leadership felt that the forum could project that the country is taking a pro-Pakistan stance in the middle of a conflict, ET has learnt. A meeting of the Pak-Kyrgyzstan Intergovernmental Commission in Islamabad scheduled in the coming days has also been postponed.

"Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to Pakistan Avazbek Atakhanov has failed in his diplomatic mission amid the military confrontation between India and Pakistan. He did not properly build an information policy around the conflict," a source, who did not wish to be identified, said.


"Atakhanov's key mistake was holding a Kyrgyz-Pakistani business forum in Karachi. Information about the event was released on May 10 when hostilities were still ongoing and it was not known when the conflict could end. The decision to participate in the forum may have been perceived as clear support for Pakistan to the detriment of relations with India. Atakhanov lacked political foresight and he miscalculated completely," according to the above-mentioned source.

While Pakistan has increased its business ties with Kyrgyzstan and people-to-people ties have picked up, Bishkek ties with India date back to the Soviet Union days and are built on goodwill ever since.