On 28 February 1997, senior journalists from Pakistan were detained for over three hours upon arriving at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi Airport. Among them were prominent journalists Mahmud Sham, editor of Pakistan's largest circulated daily "Jang", and Rehana Hakim (f), editor of the monthly "Newsline".
According to Sham, for three hours, immigration authorities would not allow the journalists to exit the airport. When the journalists protested to the authorities and demanded permission to fly back home, the immigration authorities said they were checking with concerned headquarters. Authorities would not give any reason for not allowing the journalists to enter the Indian capital. After approximately three hours, the journalists were allowed to enter India.
The journalists had flown to India to participate in a dialogue aimed at improving relations between the two countries, scheduled in Delhi and Bombay. The dialogue is a follow-up of similar meetings in Karachi and Lahore held earlier.
