Pakistan minister in row over tricolour on official car

MUMBAI: A Pakistani minister, on an official five-day trip, drove to meet Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan in an official car that did not have the Indian tricolour.

The row over the missing flag on senior commerce minister Makdoom Muhammad Amin Fahim's car came on a day when a private members' bill introduced in the US Senate for freezing financial aid to Pakistan kicked up a storm halfway across the globe.

Protocol in India requires a minister from another country to fly the tricolour, along with his or her country's flag, on the official car. The minister's car entered the Vidhan Bhavan premises without the Indian flag.

The Fahim-led team, which will fly to New Delhi on Wednesday, discussed trade relations with Chavan.

After electronic media representatives, who were waiting for interaction with the touring delegation, spotted the mistake, a hasty attempt was made to rectify it. But it too backfired. The Indian flag was inadvertently placed upside down initially. Electronic media representatives captured visuals of the flag in that position, following which the mistake was rectified.

The minister and representatives of the Pakistan high commission refused to comment. The tricolour was on the car when the minister met governor K Sankarnarayanan on Tuesday. The driver said pleas to the team to put up the tricolour on Wednesday were overlooked.