India to reduce Pakistan High Commission Strength by half; similar changes in Indian High Commission in Islamabad
This decision comes soon after two staffers of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad were abducted and confined illegally for 10 hours.
By IAR Desk
New Delhi: 23 June: India todaytasked the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi to reduce it’s staff strength by half.
The Ministry of External Affairs announced that it had summoned the Pakistani Charge d’ Affaires to the ministry and conveyed the information.
This decision comes soon after two staffers of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad were abducted and confined illegally for 10 hours.
On Monday, June 22, five officials of the Indian High Commission in Pakistan, including the two who were abducted returned to India via the Attari-Wagah border in Amritsar.
India had repeatedly expressed concern about the activities of officials of his High Commission. The Pakistani Charge d’ Affaires Syed Haider Shah was conveyed that officials of the Pakistani High Commission have been found to have been “engaged in acts of espionage and maintained dealings with terrorist organizations. The activities of the two officials caught red-handed and expelled on 31 May 2020 was one example in that regard.”
While their officials indulged in actions that are not in conformity with their privileged status in the High Commission, Pakistan has in parallel engaged in a sustained campaign to intimidate the officials of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad from carrying on their legitimate diplomatic functions, the Ministry further said, referring to the recent abductions in Islamabad.
“The recent abduction at gunpoint of two Indian officials and their severe ill treatment underlines the extent to which Pakistan has gone in that direction. These officials who have returned to India on 22 June 2020 have provided graphic details of the barbaric treatment that they experienced at the hands of Pakistani agencies,” the Ministry announced.
Citing that “The behaviour of Pakistan and its officials is not in conformity with the Vienna Convention and bilateral agreements on the treatment of diplomatic and consular officials” and calling such behaviour as “an intrinsic element of a larger policy of supporting cross-border violence and terrorism,” India said that it has therefore taken the decision to “reduce the staff strength in the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi by 50%. It would reciprocally reduce its own presence in Islamabad to the same proportion. ”
The decision is to be implemented within seven days.
