ISLAMABAD: India summoned Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit on Wednesday at the Foreign Office in New Delhi to protest against cancellation of an event of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) in which Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad Gautam Bambawale was scheduled to participate.

New Delhi reportedly blamed Pakistan of pressurising the organisers of the event to cancel it, “just to stop participation of the Indian High Commissioner”, said officials at the foreign office.

Pakistani High Commissioner in New Delhi Abdul Basit, while rejecting the Indian claim, maintained that the KCCI is an independent organisation and has nothing to do with the government.

Basit also questioned Indian authorities for not allowing him to participate in various events in India and blamed the Indian government of directly managing to stop him from attending a number of events there, the officials said.

On the other hand KCCI also rejected the Indian claims of cancelling the event on Pakistani governments’ “pressure”.

“The event scheduled on Tuesday was cancelled due to the security issues,” spokesman of the Karachi Chamber Amir Hassan told DawnNews adding that “relating the matter with Indian High Commissioner’s statement regarding Kashmir is irrelevant”.