MUMBAI: Activists belonging to hardliner Indian political party Shiv Sena on Tuesday attempted to disrupt an event hosting Pakistani photographers at the Mumbai Press Club and chanted slogans against Pakistan, reported Times of India.

The activists were stopped by police and escorted out of the venue. Police arrested five workers for protesting without permission but later released them on bail.

The function organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) as a part of its Mumbai-Karachi Friendship Forum invited five Pakistani photographers to share their experiences in the city. As part of the programme, the Karachi-based photographers arrived in Mumbai for a 10-day long tour on June 20.

The Mumbai-Karachi Friendship Forum aims to organise cultural exchanges between the two countries.

Under the photography exchange programme, the Pakistani photographers' visit is to be reciprocated by a team of Indian photographers in July. Photographs captured on both tours will be exhibited mid-August as the two nations celebrate their respective independence days.

Chairman ORF Sudheendra Kulkarni condemned the Shiv Sena workers for their protest. "We will not succumb to pressure by those who think they alone are patriots. I am a proud Maharashtrian and a patriot and will continue to promote Indo-Pak friendship," he said.

Kulkarni was on the receiving end of a Shiv Sena protest in October 2015 when activists, angry at the launch of former Pakistani foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri's book, doused him with black ink in Mumbai.

In the same month, Sainiks also stormed the headquarters of the Indian cricket Board in Mumbai, shortly before Indian cricket officials were scheduled to meet their Pakistani counterparts to discuss the revival of cricket ties between the two countries.

In January this year, members of the hardliner group also attacked a Pak-India exhibition in the Indian city of Dehradun. They stormed the exhibition, closed the doors and chanted slogans against Pakistan.