The Pulwama Terror Attack has left India infuriated at Pakistan, in the process of which Pakistani shooters were not issued visas for the World Cup in New Delhi. After this incident, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decided to "suspend all discussions" with India regarding hosting of global sporting events.
IOC has also cancelled the Olympic qualification status for the men's 25m rapid fire event from the New Delhi World Cup due to denial of visas to the Pakistani shooters.
The committee stated that it will not allow India to organise any Olympic-related events in the future, unless written assurances are obtained from the government.
It may be noted that the committee's decision followed International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) President Vladimir Lisin's announcement of scrapping all the 16 allotted Olympic quotas for the 2020 Games. However, the top sporting body limited the withholding of quotas to only two while retaining 14.
The IOC in an official statement said, "The IOC restricted the withdrawal of recognition as an Olympic qualification event to the 25m rapid fire pistol competition in which the two Pakistani athletes were supposed to participate. This happened in the interest of the other 500 athletes from 61 countries participating in the other events who are already in India for their competition".
"Since becoming aware of the issue and in spite of intense last-minute joint efforts by the IOC, the ISSF and the Indian National Olympic Committee (NOC), and discussions with the Indian government authorities, no solution has been found to allow the Pakistani delegation to enter India in time to compete." the statement added.
The International Olympic Committee came down heavily on India for going against the Olympic charter.
"This situation goes against the fundamental principles of the Olympic charter, in particular the principles of non-discrimination, as well as the IOC's and the Olympic movement's position, reiterated on many occasions over the past few years, that equal treatment must be guaranteed for all participating athletes and sporting delegations at international sports events, without any form of discrimination or political interference from the host country.
"As a result, the IOC executive board also decided to suspend all discussions with the Indian NOC and government regarding the potential applications for hosting future sports and Olympic-related events in India, until clear written guarantees are obtained from the Indian government to ensure the entry of all participants in such events in full compliance with the rules of the Olympic charter — and to recommend that the international federations (IFs) neither award nor hold sports events in India until the above-mentioned guarantees are obtained," the IOC said.
The Pakistan shooting federation on Wednesday requested the ISSF not to offer quota places in the events their shooters were scheduled to participate in.
The two shooters that Pakistan had applied visas for are GM Bashir and Khalil Ahmed.
