New Delhi: The Pakistan High Commission yesterday said there was no change in its media policy towards India and termed as “very unfortunate” and “a total falsehood” allegations that the long-serving scribe of an Indian news agency was being “thrown out” of Islamabad. Indian officials said Pakistani authorities have been “dilly-dallying” over clearing visas for Indian journalists.
Manzoor Ali Memon, the press attaché to the Pakistan High Commission, said the Press Trust of India (PTI) correspondent Rezaul Laskar had been in Islamabad from September 2007, and was allowed to stay in their country for “five years and nine months”, which was much beyond the two-three years’ term allowed to journalists.
Asked if there was a change in the media policy of Pakistan towards India, Memon said “there was nothing like that”. India and Pakistan have a protocol to allow two correspondents from each other’s countries to stay and report. From India it is the Press Trust of India and The Hindu, while from Pakistan it is the Associated Press of Pakistan and Radio Pakistan. However, no Pakistan correspondent has been posted in India since 2010 due to “selection procedures”, said Memon.
Asked why the replacements for the PTI and The Hindu have not yet been cleared, Memon said it is “under process and would be cleared soon”.
Memon said they had shown “every courtesy” to the PTI’s Islamabad correspondent and even allowed him to stay on despite his visa having expired on March 15.
Memon said the correspondent was also allowed to cover the Pakistan elections in May though he did not have a valid visa. IANS
IANS
