NEW DELHI: Popular band Sachal Jazz Ensemble had to call off its performance in Mumbai on Monday after the city police withheld permission for seven Pakistani artistes in the group to perform, local newspapers said on Tuesday.

They said the Lahore-based band consists of three British citizens and seven Pakistanis. The last-minute cancellation left a 1,000-strong crowd that had gathered to hear the internationally renowned band deeply disappointed.

Read: A jazz-ical treat

The band had tweeted on Sunday night that it was going to perform “jazz and ragas” at the NCPA. The performance was to begin at 7pm; the show was cancelled at 7.40 pm after the permissions failed to come through.

The three UK citizens in the band were reportedly given approval by the police to perform in the city, but the permissions to the Pakistanis were held up, the papers said.

The organisers, who were trying the whole day to get the requisite permissions, seemed surprised by the last-minute denial.

They refused to speak about the issue, only saying that they would send a formal email explaining the cancellation.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2014