Trip rescheduled: Rehman Malik to now visit India on Dec 14

Due to a meeting in Turkey, the interior minister pushes back trip by 3 days.

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik has postponed his trip to India till December 14 since he is attending a key meeting in Turkey.

“The new dates of my visit are 14th to 16th December. Our High Commissioner [to India] is finalising the programme,” the interior minister tweeted on Thursday.

“The Pakistan High commissioner [to] India was informed in the morning [Thursday] that I will not be able to visit [from the] 11th to 13th because of a tripod meeting in Turkey.”

The interior minister was to leave for India on December 11 to formally operationalise a newly agreed visa accord on the invitation from the Indian government.

On Wednesday, officials from the interior ministry informed The Express Tribune that Malik is set to fly to the neighbouring country on his Indian counterpart’s invitation.

Indian Home Minister Kumar Shinde invited Rehman Malik on Tuesday to formally operationalise a new visa regime on December 11. New Delhi and Islamabad had reached an agreement to ease visa restrictions in order to facilitate tourists and promote business in the region.

Thanking his Indian counterpart, Malik tweeted: “[I’m] grateful to Shinde for inviting me to celebrate my birthday in Agra. However, since I won’t be able to go on 12th, I will now go on the 14th.” Malik and Shinde will operationalise the new visa regime in an event arranged by the Indian government in New Delhi.

It is also speculated that ministers from the regional giants will discuss security arrangement for the five One Day Internationals (ODIs) and two Twenty20 matches to be held in India.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2012.