BackGovt condemns Pakistan’s decision to expel Indian High Commission official
Surjeet Singh, assistant personnel and welfare officer in the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, was late on Thursday told by the Pakistani foreign office to leave Islamabad
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New Delhi: India on Friday said it condemned Pakistan’s decision to expel one of its high commission officials for activities incompatible with diplomatic norms—in a seeming tit-for-tat action against India seeking the expulsion of a Pakistani diplomat caught by the Delhi Police for espionage activities.
Surjeet Singh, assistant personnel and welfare officer in the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, was late on Thursday told by the Pakistani foreign office to leave Islamabad.
“No justification has been provided by the Government of Pakistan except for the completely baseless and unsubstantiated allegation that his activities were not in keeping with diplomatic norms," Indian foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said in a statement.
“The Government condemns Pakistan’s step. It is obvious that the step is an afterthought following yesterday’s apprehension of Pakistan High Commission staffer Mehmood Akhtar in Delhi while indulging in anti-India activities. Pakistan’s action further confirms that it continues to be in denial of its anti-India activities, including cross-border terrorism," Swarup said.
Also read: Pakistan High Commission staffer declared persona non grata for spying; 2 Indians held
The development comes amid tense relations between the two countries over Pakistan’s support to cross-border terrorism and Pakistan’s accusations against India on its alleged human rights violations in Kashmir.
A report in the Dawn newspaper, meanwhile, quoted a Pakistani foreign office statement as saying that Indian high commissioner to Islamabad Gautam Bambawale was summoned to the Pakistan foreign office and foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmed Choudhury expressed deep concern over the activities of the Indian official that were in violation of the Vienna Convention and established diplomatic norms.
The Vienna Convention that regulates the diplomatic interaction between countries prescribes that diplomats and staff working in diplomatic missions should adhere to the laws of the receiving state which of course rules out espionage.
“The Indian High Commission has been asked to make urgent necessary arrangements for Surjeet Singh and his family to leave Pakistan by October 29, 2016," the news report quoted the Pakistani statement as saying.
Accusations of spying and espionage activities are routinely levelled by India and Pakistan against diplomats and staffers of the other country stationed in New Delhi and Islamabad. Expulsions of staffers and sometimes even diplomats are also routine, though the frequency had come down in recent years, thanks to de-escalation of tension between the two sides.
Earlier this year, Pakistani authorities said they had captured a former Indian naval officer now working with India’s Research and Analysis Wing external spy agency as he was trying to enter Pakistan’s restive Baluchistan province through Iran. The aim of the alleged Indian spy was to foment trouble in Balochistan, according to Pakistani authorities.
In 2010, Indian High Commission staffer Madhuri Gupta, stationed in Islamabad, was recalled home and arrested for allegedly passing on information to an ISI official.
Gupta was working in the press section of the Indian High Commission when she came under the scanner of Indian intelligence officials for her alleged close interactions with the Pakistani official.
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