Pakistan's Senate chairman cancels UAE visit as PM Modi honoured by Gulf nation

Islamabad: Pakistan's Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani on Sunday cancelled his official trip to the UAE, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi was honoured with the Gulf nation's highest civilian award during his visit to the country, according to a media report. Sanjrani was scheduled to visit the UAE from 25-28 August with a parliamentary delegation on the invitation of the UAE government. His delegation was to hold meetings with the UAE parliamentarians and government officials, Geo TV reported. He, however, decided to cancel the trip as Pakistan vehemently supports Kashmiri people, the channel said, citing a statement from the Senate Secretariat. Prime Minister Modi was honoured with the 'Order of Zayed', the UAE's highest civilian award, on Saturday as a mark of appreciation for his efforts to boost bilateral ties between the two nations. Modi thanked the UAE government for the honour and dedicated the award to the skills and abilities of 1.3 billion Indians. The UAE in April had announced to confer the country's highest award on Modi. Tensions between India and Pakistan spiked after India abrogated provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution to withdraw Jammu and Kashmir's special status and bifurcated it into two Union Territories, evoking strong reactions from Pakistan. India has categorically told the international community that the scrapping of Article 370 was an internal matter and also advised Pakistan to accept the reality. Source: Livemint