India decided not to send any representative to the Pakistan National Day celebrations in New Delhi since the Pak high commission decided to invite Hurriyat representatives. Indian diplomats in Islamabad too will not attend the event, confirmed ministry of external affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar.
Pakistan National Day is on March 23, which is a holiday, so the event was held on March 22.
Kumar said that India had made its position very clear—any attempt by Pakistan to engage with the separatist group Hurriyat will not be taken lightly. Last year, minister of state Gajendra Singh Shekhawat represented the government in the event.
Kumar made it clear the boycott was only because of the Hurriyat development and not any other factor. Relations have been frosty between the two neighbours since the Pulwama attacks, followed by the preventive non-military strike at Balakot by the Indian Air Force.
Sporting ties between the two nations have ceased following Pulwama. In a related development, Kumar said that European Union would shortly proscribe Masood Azhar. EU has to follow all the procedures before it announces the decision.
China had recently exercised is veto power against the move to ban Azhar by the United Nations Security Council.
