The Stream

Right-wing Hindu groups protest Pakistani expo

India-Pakistan friendship initiatives found new opposition at a New Delhi lifestyle exhibition.

Right-wing Hindu activists staged a protest against a Pakistan lifestyle exhibition held at a New Delhi venue in India on Thursday. Protesters, including members of Rashtrawadi Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal, held saffron flags and chanted anti-Pakistan slogans ahead of the first day of the ‘Alishan Pakistan’ expo. They demanded the event be shut down or else they “may appeal to boycott all Pakistani products in the country”, according a VHP-Bajrang Dal press release. They also expressed their anger at the government for having given permission for this four-day exhibition. Police reportedly arrested some protesters, but they were later released.

The exhibition aims to bolster trade relations between India and Pakistan. The event will go on until September 14, with 150 exhibitors displaying their products at the venue.