Guwahati, Feb 9 (PTI) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday demanded a “transparant explanation” from Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi over his “visit to Rawalpindi district of Pakistan”, asserting that his visa “explicitly permitted travel only to Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad”.
Sarma, in a post on X, said that under Pakistan’s immigration rules, travel beyond visa-designated cities is not permitted without specific authorisation.
Reacting to the charge, Gogoi said Sarma was “floundering and sinking in his own web of lies”, asserting that the general passport, which was submitted to the Centre to get a diplomatic one, has “all details” of his visit.
Sarma’s comments came amid a press conference of the Congress MP, where he said he had visited Takshashila in Pakistan with his wife, having due permission.
The CM and Gogoi have been engaged in a verbal duel, with Sarma alleging that the Congress leader and his family have Pakistani links.
Gogoi told reporters that his wife had visited Pakistan for work-related purpose in 2013, and he had accompanied her on a 10-day trip to the neighbouring country in December that year.
While the press meet was underway, Sarma asserted that Gogoi made a disclosure that he was not previously aware of.
“Takshashila (Taxila) is not located in Islamabad, but in Rawalpindi District, Punjab. This single fact raises a serious and unavoidable question. If his Pakistan visa explicitly permitted travel only to Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad, how did he visit Takshashila, which lies outside the Islamabad Capital Territory and squarely within Rawalpindi District?” he said.
“So the question is simple, factual, and legitimate: Who facilitated his movement to Takshashila despite the apparent absence of visa clearance for Rawalpindi District?” Sarma said.
He further said that this question gains significance given that Pakistan Army’s General Headquarters is also located in Rawalpindi.
“These facts warrant a clear and transparent explanation,” Sarma said.
The chief minister asserted that Gogoi did not have visa to visit Rawalpindi, which is a “restricted, high-security” district.
“It is now almost evident that access to Rawalpindi (army headquarters) could not have occurred through routine civilian travel permissions.
“The circumstances strongly suggest that the visit was facilitated through institutional arrangements that do not require standard civilian visa endorsements,” Sarma said.
Gogoi later told PTI that the CM should use “Google Map more carefully” to know that Takshashila is “a day’s trip from Islamabad”.
“I made available my original passport to the Government of India after I became an MP in 2014 to get a diplomatic passport. It lies with them and it contains all the details of my Pakistan visit,” he said.
“This shows that the chief minister is floundering and sinking in his own web of lies. He tried to brand me as an agent of a foreign country, and he failed. And in order to cover one lie, he has to tell 100 lies,” the Congress leader asserted.
Gogoi said that Takshashila is an important archaeological site in Indian civilisation.
“I am glad that I got the opportunity to visit an ancient Indian place,” he said.
On Sunday, Sarma had alleged in a press conference that Gogoi, his British wife Elizabeth Colburn and Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh had a “deeper connection”, and that information from the Intelligence Bureau was secretly passed on to the neighbouring nation.
Gogoi had dismissed the allegations of his Pakistani connections as “most mindless and bogus”. He dubbed the press conference, where Sarma made the allegations, “worse than C-grade cinema”, which was a “super flop”. PTI TR RBT
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.