Punjab terror attack: MEA blocks Pakistan officials' visit to Chandigarh, Abdul Basit calls off visit

NEW DELHI: In a sign that the Punjab terror attack may impair the freshly resuscitated Indo-Pak engagement process, Pakistan high commissioner Abdul Basit called off his 2-day visit to the state meant to start Wednesday.

Basit had several engagements lined up for his visit to Chandigarh including meetings with Punjab and Haryana CMs, Parkash Singh Badal and ML Khattar respectively.

While both Badal and Khattar sent regret messages to Basit saying that they would not like to meet him, according to diplomatic sources, the visit had to be called off because other senior officials were denied permission by MEA to accompany him to Chandigarh.

Basit's trade minister, political counsellor and press attache were supposed to travel with him and his wife.

Diplomatic sources said it was unfortunate that the visit had to be called off. "Moreover, the MEA conveyed its approval to the visit only around 3 pm and that too without approval for accompanying officials. This is most regrettable," said a source, adding that the high commission was thankful to those who had agreed to host Basit and other Pakistan officials.

Apart from his meetings with the chief ministers, Basit was supposed to address gatherings at Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development, PHD Chamber of Commerce, Chandigarh Press Club and Panjab University.

Pakistan had condemned the Gurdaspur attack on Monday in the strongest terms, reiterating the condemnation of terrorism "in all its forms and manifestations" by both the countries in Ufa where PM Narendra Modi recently met his counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

The mention of terrorism in all its forms is significant because this was seen as an achievement by BJP leaders who felt the government had forced Pakistan to accept India's definition of terrorism. Spokesperson MJ Akbar had said this was a change from Pakistan's earlier, more nuanced, position that made a distinction between good and bad terrorists.

Both Indian and Pakistani officials said though that the 2 countries are still looking to finalise dates for a meeting between the 2 NSAs, as decided in Ufa. The final decision though has to be taken by India as it has to host the talks and, in that capacity, has to first propose dates for talks. Pakistan NSA Sartaj Aziz will travel to India for talks with his counterpart Ajit Doval.

One of the reasons why Indian officials don't see the Gurdaspur attack as impacting the NSA engagement is that the dialogue is meant to address precisely the issue of terrorism or, as the Ufa statement put it, all issues connected to terrorism.

India does not want to be seen as shying away from a dialogue on terrorism, especially when it is Pakistan which had proposed the NSA-level talks. Pakistan though is likely to use the talks between the top security officials to raise the issue of alleged Indian involvement in fomenting trouble in not just Baluchistan but also, as claimed by Pakistan, the role of Indian agencies in perpetrating the Peshawar massacre of 132 school children in 2014.