Indian envoy's guests invited for Iftar party turned away by Pak agencies

New Delhi: Guests were aggressively turned away by Pakistani security officials from an Iftar party hosted by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad on Saturday and even calls were made to stop many of them from attending it, sources said.

Indian envoy Ajay Bisaria told ANI on Sunday that "such intimidatory tactics" are "counter-productive" for bilateral relations.

"We apologise to all our guests who were aggressively turned away from our Iftar party last evening. Such intimidatory tactics are deeply disappointing. They not only violate basic norms of diplomatic conduct and civilised behaviour, but are also counter-productive for our bilateral relations," he said.

Media reports claimed that additional scrutiny was thrust upon the guests attending the party by Pakistani security officials, who also forced many to return from the event.

"Pakistani agencies virtually laid a siege on Hotel Serena on Saturday, harassed, intimidated and turned back hundreds of guests," sources told ANI on Sunday.

"Before that, they called invitees from masked numbers and threatened them with consequences if they attended the Iftar. They sunk to a new low of harassment, mostly of their own people," they added.