An embarrassed Home Ministry on Saturday expressed regrets for sending back former Pakistan Human Rights Minister Ansar Burney upon his arrival at Delhi Airport on Friday night and said he was always welcome to visit India.

In a clarification that did not throw any light on the treatment meted out to Burney, who played a key role in getting Indian prisoner Kashmir Singh released from Pakistani jail, the ministry said the "inconvenience" to him was "unfortunate and regrettable".

In the two-page clarification, the ministry took recourse to technicalities by arguing that Burney had been denied entry and not deported by the immigration official "on account of inadequate documentation".

This flies in the face of Burney's comments from London [Images] that he was asked to sign deportation papers and "hurriedly packed" into the Emirate Airlines flight which took him back to Dubai.