LONDON: The British government has unilaterally withdrawn the scheduled official visit of National Security Advisor (NSA) Moeed Yusuf to the country.
NSA Moeed Yusuf was to meet his British counterpart during the planned tour.
The British government has cancelled the Pakistan official’s visit to the counry in the wake of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s recent visit to Russia and his meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
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Sources said that the NSA’s visit was scheduled from March 5. Afghanistan situation and other related issues were on agenda of the visit.
The UK, therefore, has conveyed its concerns to Islamabad for not condemning Russian attack on Ukraine and also visiting Putin on the day the country launched an assault on Ukraine.
Tensions have mounted to the extent that the British government had called over its High Commissioner to Pakistan Christian Turner for a briefing regarding the new situation including UK-Pakistan ties, a sources in the UK government said.
According to the source, Ambassador Turner had briefed the British government’s MPs during the talks. The UK’s aid to Pakistan also came under deliberation and in this connection a new policy will be announced soon.
Islamabad has told the British government that it was pursuing a neutral position in the Russia-Ukraine war. Pakistan said that it had no favourites in the war, adding that UK’s strong allies among dozens of countries had abstained from condemning Russia over its Ukraine attack.
The sources said that the British government had conveyed a message to Pakistan on March 1 that Moeed Yusuf’s visit will not take place anymore due to the situation unfolding in the aftermath of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
