A visit of a two-member delegation of Parliamentarians to Pakistan to attend a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association seminar next week has been called off in the wake of the Mumbai serial blasts, suspected to have been engineered with support from across the border.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) Rajya Sabha member Brinda Karat and Congress MP from East Delhi Sandeep Dixit have cancelled their visit to Islamabad for the seminar on gender issues being held from July 17, Lok Sabha sources said.
The sources said the cancellation followed advice from the Ministry of External Affairs.
Dixit, son of Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dixit, said it would not be fit for him to visit Pakistan now. "The fact is I will be going as an MP and it will not not be the right time to go there," he said.
In strong words, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in Mumbai on Friday that the blasts could not not have been carried out with such devasting effect without support from across the border and had indicated that the peace process could come under strain due to such attacks.
"We are certain that these terror modules are instigagted, inspired and supported by elements across the border without which they cannot act with such devastating effects," he had said.
