Islamabad: India today (Nov 10) brushed aside allegations that some Pakistani journalists were denied visas to cover the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Information Ministers' conference in New Delhi, saying in all, 18 scribes had been given the document to cover the event.

Reacting to Pakistan Foreign Office comment that denial of visas to some journalists went against India's stand of promoting people-to-people contact, sources in the Indian High Commission in Islamabad said, "Barring a few cases, visas have been given to all the Pakistani journalists from print and television media to cover the event in Delhi from tomorrow."

Replying to complaints from some reporters that they have not been given visas to cover the conference, Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said, "It is a very regrettable decision by India and exposed their double standards.

"On the one hand they want people-to-people contacts and on the other hand they are restricting movement of journalists. They expect Pakistan to role out red carpet for their journalists and Parliamentarians and when it is our turn, what we see is red signals."

PTI