Met people in Pak who were denied visa for India only due to

NCP chief Sharad Pawar claimed on Thursday that during his visit to Pakistan he met several people who wanted to visit their kin in India, but were denied "permission" only because they were Muslim.

The former Union minister also accused the BJP-led NDA government of indulging in divisive politics.

He was speaking at a meeting of the NCP's minority cell here.

"While working in the cricket field, I had been to Pakistan for a meeting. I met several people there then who have at least one relative in India. They want to meet their relatives. But they do not have permission just because they are Muslim," Pawar tweeted in Marathi after the meeting.

Pawar was president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and International Cricket Council in the past.

Apparently referring to the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens, Pawar said certain decisions of the BJP-led Union government had created insecurity in a section of society.

"The government of the day is dividing communities and this poses a threat to the unity of the country. We will have to think how we can keep such ideology away (from power)," Pawar said.

He also talked about empowering the backward sections of the society.

Referring to the NCP, Shiv Sena and Congress forming government in Maharashtra while keeping the BJP away from power, Pawar said wherever he goes, people say they should follow the path the state has shown.

The meeting was also addressed by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Ministers Jayant Patil and Nawab Malik.