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New Delhi : He is irritated and angry, thanks to the indifferent behaviour of the Government of Pakistan who first invited designer Jattinn Kochhar to participate in the Karachi Fashion Week (KFW) and later denied him a visa on undisclosed grounds.
Kochhar had been invited by Pakistan's Ministry of Textiles to showcase his collection at the grand finale show of the ongoing Karachi Fashion week that concludes on Feb 3. "I don't understand this. Why do they invite us on the first hand when they deny us visas later on? Due to political differences, one can't deny exchange of cultural activities," Kochhar told the media.
"During a regular basis, I meet so many Pakistani people and they come across as very warm and good people. After all, it is the same country. Politicians should spare us and give space to people and artists," he added. For the visa issue, the designer had also met Pakistan's ambassador to India for help. They told him that the visa wasn't issued to him because of the Indian Premier League (IPL) issue.
"This is not the first time this has happened. During the first edition of KFW, they had invited me to participate and again no visa was issued. This time, the officials are blaming the IPL issue, but what was the issue last time? I don't understand this," grumbled Kochhar. The organisers of KFW too have stopped answering his calls or mails. Calling it "unprofessional behaviour", the designer has got back his passport.
"Strangely there is no response from the KFW organisers for the past two days. On Sunday, I had a word with them and they had claimed to send my visa clearance letter to the office here. But after this, they have stopped taking my calls and replying to my mails. It is very, very unprofessional," said an angry Kochhar. "Frankly speaking, it was a big honour to do the grand finale show with a Pakistani designer. But look what has happened," he said. Kochhar had designed sari border inspired sharara jumpsuits for the grand finale and says that both his money and effort have been wasted.
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