Euphoria denied visa due to show venue within Pakistan cantonment

LAHORE: Pakistani authorities did not grant visas to members of the Indian band Euphoria, which was to perform at a university in Lahore last week, as the venue was within a cantonment, a representative of the organisers said today.

Euphoria's performance at the prestigious Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) on March 23 was cancelled after Pakistan's Interior Ministry did not clear the issuance of visas to its members.

"The band was scheduled to perform in the varsity last week but its members were denied visas because Indian nationals cannot enter the cantonment area. LUMS is located within the Lahore cantonment," LUMS official Zainab Nawaz told reporters.

She said students had been excited about the idea of having an Indian band perform for them. "But we were told about the problem later," Nawaz said.

Euphoria's lead vocalist Palash Sen was upset by the cancellation of the event.

"We were invited to perform at LUMS on March 23, which also happens to be Pakistan Day, but we were informed at the last moment that the concert can't happen as the no-objection certificate was not granted due to security concerns," Palash said last night.

"It is very insulting as an artiste. It was a priority show for us. We had performed in Karachi in 2008 and got a lot of love from people there. This time we lost the opportunity to perform," he added.