September 4, 2003	Thursday	Rajab 6, 1424

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LAHORE, Sept 3: Pakistan’s diplomatic mission in New Delhi has refused to issue visas to the nine-member Indian Jurists Council’s team that was to arrive here on Wednesday, Supreme Court Bar Association’s president Hamid Khan quoted the organizer of the visit as saying.

The delegation, during its week-long stay in Pakistan, was scheduled to visit Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and Islamabad.

Members of the SCBA and the Lahore High Court Bar Association, who had planned to receive the delegation at Wagah, expressed their disappointment over the delay in the issuance of the visas to the prospective visitors.

SCBA president Hamid Khan quoted the visit’s organizer, Aadish Aggarwala, as saying that the Pakistan High Commission had refused the IJC delegates visas on grounds that it was not authorized to do so.

“Mr Aggarwala told me that the Pakistan High Commission had promised him to issue visas by Monday but instead of meeting the deadline it flatly refused the following day,” he claimed. According to Mr Aggarwala, the invitation had been extended to the Indian delegation by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Mr Khan said he had not received any update in this regard as yet, nor had he spoken to the Pakistan High Commission since the SCBA had not invited the delegation. “Though the visit has already been delayed, we are still expecting their arrival and are prepared for that”.

LHCBA president Hafiz Abdul Rehman Ansari expressed the fear that the visit might be cancelled because of the high commission’s refusal to issue them (the Indian delegates) visas. “Though there is no official confirmation yet regarding the visit’s cancellation but hints are not very encouraging in this connection,” he said.

Supreme Court’s Registrar Amin Farooqui, however, told this correspondent that the Chief Justice of Pakistan Sheikh Riaz Ahmad had not invited the Indian delegation. “Rather the IJC had initiated the move on its own and we had consented to welcome the delegation. The Indian jurists had spoken to us on the issue relating to the delay in the issuance of visas on Tuesday and I had suggested them to contact the Pakistan High Commission in this matter,” he said.

The registrar said that the chief justice wanted the Indian jurists to visit Pakistan and would extend to them a formal invitation in this connection.