Himanta seeks Gaurav Gogoi’s explanation over Rawalpindi visit

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday demanded a “transparent 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. His 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.

Sarma 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 the 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 a 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. 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.