After the furore over him being denied a visa to attend the Karachi Literature Festival, the Pakistan High Commissioner in India called actor Anupam Kher on Wednesday offering to ensure a visa for him. But this time the actor turned it down saying he wasn’t free on those dates now.
And Kher announced it on Twitter.
Here’s what the actor tweeted:
And Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit had fan-struck moment:
Pakistan High Commission officials said Basit had called up Kher on Tuesday after the actor said he was denied visa to attend the Karachi Literary Festival while 17 others were issued the travel document.
In a tweet on Tuesday night, the Pakistani envoy had said:
The actor had on Tuesday held a press conference to express his anguish about not being able to attend the function.
“I am not angry, I am hurt, upset and somewhere wanting to know the reason. Out of 18 why only I was singled out. It could be either because I am a Kashmiri Pandit, I am not playing a card of Kashmiri Pandit and trying to divide people, or because I’ve spoken about the issue of intolerance, taken a stand and have applauded my PM. Otherwise, there is no logical reason why the visa was denied to me. This has happened for the third time,” Kher had told a press conference in Mumbai on Tuesday.
The Pakistan High Commission in Delhi had said Kher had never submitted visa application and so the question of issuing or denying him visa does not arise.
Ameena Syed, the spokesperson for the Karachi Literature Festival, had told PTI that they had been advised by the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi to tell Kher not to submit a visa application as he would not be issued one.