Pakistan did not respond to an invitation for the two-day centenary celebrations of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) while delegates invited from various other countries will not be attending it in the wake of the new Covid-19 variant ‘Omicron’.
The two-day centenary celebrations starting on Saturday will be inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind in the presence of Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. PAC Chairperson Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury told a press conference that they had “tried to give an invitation” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi also but “there was no confirmation till now (afternoon)” and that they would once again contact him.
Chowdhury said delegates from 52 countries were invited to the celebrations but none of them is attending due to the situation arising out of the Omicron variant.
Asked whether Pakistan was also invited, he said an invitation was extended as it was a celebration of an institution but Islamabad did not give any response.
The Ministry of External Affairs was involved in the process of inviting all foreign countries, he said.
Published 03 December 2021, 23:26 IST