A scheduled debate between Indian and Pakistani speakers at the UK’s Oxford Union unravelled on Thursday, triggering a public spat between the two sides over who pulled out first.

The controversy began after the Pakistan High Commission in the UK claimed that Indian speakers had withdrawn at the last minute from a debate titled “India’s Policy Towards Pakistan is a Populist Strategy Sold as Security Policy,” resulting in what it called a “walkover.”

In a post on X, the mission claimed, “The Pakistani speakers had already arrived in London and were scheduled to proceed to Oxford today. Earlier this morning, however, the Oxford Union informed the organisers that all three Indian speakers had decided to pull out, offering no substantive explanation for their inability to attend a debate they had previously confirmed.”

The Pakistani side also circulated names of Indian participants, including former Army Chief General MM Naravane, Subramanian Swamy, and Sachin Pilot.

However, the Indian side strongly rebutted the charge. Senior advocate J Sai Deepak, who said he was one of the confirmed speakers, countered Pakistan’s version with documents, timestamps and call logs.

Deepak posted an email from the Oxford Union confirming his participation and wrote, “Trust the Pakistanis to make a pigsty even out of the @OxfordUnion. And as always, they are genetically incapable of being truthful.”

According to him, Naravane and Swamy later said they couldn’t attend, after which the Union asked him to suggest replacements. Before he could respond, he said the organisers informed him that Suhel Seth and Priyanka Chaturvedi had been approached and had agreed, only for both to withdraw later due to short notice.

Chaturvedi clarified on X that the Union had contacted her in July, and she had agreed subject to Parliament dates. She added that they resurfaced only on November 25.

“They reached out to me in July, I agreed depending that it doesn’t clash with parliament session. Then they disappeared all this while and mailed me out of the blue on 25th November asking me to confirm my presence, for which they got a stinker from me for their unprofessional conduct and I refused to be party to such pathetic management. Shameless and desperate spin once again from Aatankistan,” she said.

Despite the setbacks, Deepak said he flew to the UK and assembled a last-minute team of UK-based speakers Manu Khajuria and Pt Satish K Sharma.

But hours before the debate dinner, he said the Oxford Union informed him that the event had been cancelled because the Pakistani team had not arrived in the UK.

Deepak shared call records and wrote, “Obviously, I was unhappy given the time & effort that had gone into this. I conveyed my displeasure at the abysmal handling of the event.”

He then alleged that the organiser, Moosa Harraj, son of Pakistan’s Minister of Defence Production, had misled him, claiming the Pakistani speakers were missing, when they were in fact already in Oxford.

“If the Pakistani team was still in Oxford, they should debate us on the topic… Why is the Pakistani team hiding behind kids like their terrorists, instead of facing us in a live debate for the world to see?” he added.