Former Pakistani president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf was denied a meeting with the Norwegian PM during his visit to Norway last week, according to media reports.
According to reports, the ex-military leader tried meeting Erna Solberg at the opening ceremony of a multicultural festival in Oslo last Friday, but he was not allowed by her guards to meet her. He subsequently left without attending the ceremony.
Musharraf also faced retaliation during his lecture at the capital city’s Nobel Peace Centre. The Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo, Norway, shut down an event midway, where former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf was speaking after tensions between his supporters and opponents escalated beyond control.
General (r) Musharraf had been addressing a crowd of around 150 people at the Nobel Peace Centre the other day. The lecture, which was about security policy and the current situation in Pakistan and the South Asian region, had been arranged by Norwegian organisation ‘Dialogue for Peace.’
However, according to the Nobel Peace Centre, the question and answer session that follows such lectures did not end up nicely. The tension between the two groups reached the point where the Nobel Peace Centre had to intervene and put an end to the event.
In a statement delivered the next day, the Nobel Peace Centre explained that “as the floor was opened for questions, the discussion between Musharraf’s followers and opponents escalated. When some participants attempted to silence and remove critical voices, we decided to stop the event.”
Musharraf, however, did receive a warm welcome at another event, arranged by Norwegian-Pakistani organisation, Pakistan Union Norway on August 19.
