Call it a faux pas on the part of the Pakistani parliamentary delegation or an indifferent attitude shown by Indian Parliament speaker, the diplomatic relations touched a new low on Friday.

An all-party 17-member delegation of parliamentarians from Islamabad visited the Lok Sabha (the lower house) in Delhi to observe the proceedings as well as to have a scheduled meeting with Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

What could have been a move to bring closer the leaders of the two nations, it instead turned into an embarrassing situation when Mahajan failed to turn up to meet them.

The visiting MPs, according to an Indian leader, were seven minutes late and by the time they reached the Parliament library, where the meeting was to take place, Mahajan had already left, leaving the visiting MPs fuming.

“Today we visited Parliament...and nobody mentioned us. We sat in the gallery. In other parliaments the speaker announces and introduces the delegates. We sat for 20 minutes but there was no announcement, no welcome,” Rasheed Gudlam was quoted as saying by NDTV.

BJP MP Kirti Azad, who was in charge of receiving the Pakistanis, said he had urged them to come on time but they arrived at seven minutes past 1 p.m. “I had asked them to be quick but they were late. They have to honor the Speaker at least,” Azad said. Responding to their complaint about not being welcomed, he admitted, “There must have been a glitch somewhere.”

Mahajan said the 17-member team was not an official delegation from Pakistan. The delegation’s visit has been organized by a private group as part of dialogue initiated by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar for parliamentarians on both sides.

Media in India see it as a message to Pakistan, who in the recent past, has been very aggressive on the borders with India.

The Pakistan delegation had arrived in the Indian Parliament as part of Indo-Pak MPs dialogue.