Pained at Indian bans on exhibitions, cultural troupes: Pakistani envoy

Kolkata, March 17 (IANS) Asserting people of Pakistan want to have a "normal relationship" with India, Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit said it "pained" him that cultural troupes from Pakistan are barred from performing in India.

"We would very much hope the political consensus which exists in Pakistan we would also see that in India across the board because it pains me when our exhibitions are not allowed to be held in Mumbai or in other places in India.... our cultural troupes come to perform in India but are not allowed to perform in India, so that really pains me," Basit said here during a Calcutta Chamber of Commerce programme.

"There is national consensus in Pakistan that we want to have a normal relationship with India. If you look at the election campaign in Pakistan in 2013, not a single anti-India statement was made," he said.

Basit batted for more bilateral activities between Indian states and Pakistani provinces.

"As Pakistan high commissioner to India, I want to see more bilateral activities between our countries and activities not necessarily restricted to Delhi or Mumbai, but I would like other states to come forward and see what opportunities exists between the countries," he said.