NEW DELHI: A delegation of Pakistani students and their teachers were on Wednesday forced to cut short their visit to India amid Indian allegations that Pakistani troops had mutilated two Indian soldiers, a claim denied by Pakistan, reported Hindustan Times.
The 50-member delegation, comprising Pakistani students, their teaches and staffers, were sent back on Wednesday after the government advised their Indian host organisation against hosting them at a time which was not ‘appropriate.
The Delhi based NGO had invited 50 students from Pakistan as part of their ‘Exchange for Change’ programme. “The ministry advised the NGO that it was not an appropriate time for such exchanges after we learnt that the children had crossed over to India on May 1,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Gopal Baglay said. “They came to India on the same day when the barbaric and inhuman act of killing and mutilating our soldiers happened,” he said. The students were scheduled to go on a day-long trip to Agra on Wednesday and participate in an exchange of experiences with Indian students at the Pakistan Embassy in New Delhi a day later, added the Indian publication.
The NGO expressed regret over return of the delegation and said that the trip had to be shortened and the students and teachers have returned to Lahore. “Around 50 students aged between 11-15 years along with their teachers arrived in Delhi from Pakistan on May 1 and were supposed to meet their Indian pen friends and hosts of other programmes which had to be cut short,” Rakesh Gupta and Tina Vachani, founders of Routes2Roots, said.
