India, Pak in another diplomatic row
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 15
India and Pakistan were embroiled in yet another diplomatic row within a fortnight when two officials of the Indian High Commission, reported “missing” on Monday morning, found their way back late in the evening.
Indian sources said the staffers had been abducted by the ISI while the Pakistani Foreign Affairs Ministry claimed that the two were involved in a road accident and had hit-and-run charges slapped on them.
With no news about the staffers till the afternoon, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) summoned the Pakistan Charge d’ Affaires to seek their return. Receiving reports that the two were arrested, the Pakistan Charge d’ Affaires was asked to ensure they were not interrogated or harassed and that the responsibility for their safety and security lay squarely with the Pakistani authorities, sources said.
The Pakistan side was asked to return the two officials, along with the official car, to the High Commission immediately. The incident comes two weeks after India expelled two Pakistan High Commission officials here on charges of espionage.
India had declared Abid Hussain and Muhammad Tahir as ‘persona non grata’ after they were found obtaining sensitive documents related to movement of Indian Army troops from an Indian national, as per the authorities here.
Detained on charges of endangering India’s national security, they were released after a few hours of detention and expelled the following day.
Following their expulsion, Pakistani agencies started harassing a number of Indian High Commission officials in Islamabad, including Charge d’Affaires Gaurav Ahluwalia. The incident in Islamabad climaxes a sustained period of aggressively tailing Indian diplomats. including
Charge d’Affaires Gaurav Ahluwalia. India had protested against this unwanted belligerence in a diplomatic note to Islamabad in March, citing 13 such instances.
India and Pakistan have also been indulging in verbal volleys, including over the inclusion of Gilgit-Baltistan’s weather in the Indian weather bulletin, shootouts in Kashmir and on reports of desecration of Buddhist artefacts in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. (With PTI inputs)
