Delhi: Pakistan on Thursday canceled next month's Commonwealth Parliamentary Union meeting to be held in Islamabad over issue of invitation to J&K Assembly speaker.
The conference, which was to bring together speakers of Commonwealth nations, will now be held in New York.
"We have clarified to the London Secretariat of the Commonwealth that Kashmir is a disputed territory and now it is impossible for the Commonwealth Conference to be held in Pakistan," National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq told reporters.
"A detailed letter will be written to the CPA countries over the Kashmir dispute and the Kashmir issue will be raised in every forum of the Commonwealth," Sadiq said, as per PTI.
He said the Kashmir issue could not be overlooked at any cost and the Assembly speaker would not be invited.
"The decision to hold the event in Pakistan was made on the basis that the Kashmir assembly speaker would not be invited to the conference," he said.
On August 11, refusing to budge from its stand, Pakistan had said that come what may it would not invite the Speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Islamabad.
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Pakistan had also said that if India wanted to boycott the meeting it was "their choice".
"If India does not attend the conference, because of the Kashmir issue, it is their choice. We cannot budge from our stand," Sadiq had said then.
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In a move which had miffed India, Pakistan had invited the Speakers of the Indian Parliament and the state assemblies but has refused to invite J&K Assembly Speaker Kavinder Gupta.
India on their part had said that it would boycott the conference which was to be held in Islamabad from September 30 to October 8.
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had threatened that India not take part in the conference after Islamabad refused to invite Gupta for the event.
(With PTI inputs)
