2 officials of the High Commission of Pakistan were raised by the Indian authorities (Representation)
Islamabad:
Pakistan summoned a senior Indian diplomat on Monday to demonstrate firmly against India’s decision to expel two officials from its high commission in New Delhi for spying.
India on Sunday declared two officials of the Pakistani High Commission as “persona non grata” for espionage and ordered them to leave the country within 24 hours, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
Two officials, Abid Hussain and Muhammad Tahir, were arrested by Delhi police while obtaining sensitive documents regarding Indian security installations from an Indian national in exchange for money, sources said. officials in New Delhi.
“The government declared these two personalities non grata for having engaged in activities incompatible with their status as members of a diplomatic mission and asked them to leave the country within 24 hours,” the MEA said in a communicated.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said on Monday that the Indian charge of affairs had been summoned for a “strong move”, expressing Pakistan’s condemnation of the decision to declare two officials from the high commission of the Pakistan to New Delhi persona non grata and the rejection of all “baseless” allegations against them.
Pakistan also said India’s action was in “flagrant violation” of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and diplomatic standards, the OF said.
Earlier, the Pakistani foreign ministry said the two staff at the Pakistani high commission in New Delhi were lifted by Indian authorities on May 31 for “false and baseless accusations”.
He said the action was “clearly” aimed at reducing the diplomatic space for the work of the Pakistani High Commission in Delhi.
“Pakistan firmly rejects baseless Indian allegations and deplores India’s action which clearly violates the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations as well as the standards of diplomatic conduct, especially in an already flawed atmosphere,” he said. -he declares.
The two officials, however, were released following the intervention of the High Commission, the statement said.
Officials working in the visa section of the Pakistani high commission confessed during the interrogation that they worked for the Pakistani spy agency ISI, official sources in New Delhi said.
The punitive action against the two officials took place amid frayed ties between the two countries following India’s reorganization of Jammu and Kashmir.
Pakistan degraded diplomatic relations by expelling Indian high commissioner to Islamabad following India’s decision to withdraw special status from Jammu and Kashmir and divide the state into two Union territories in August of last year.
Pakistan and India were almost on the brink of war in 2019 after the Pulwama terrorist attack on February 14 that killed dozens of CRPF soldiers and prompted India to carry out air strikes on the terrorist camps in Pakistan .
On February 26, Indian fighter planes entered Pakistan deeply and bombed JeM’s terrorist camps in Balakot. It was the first time that Indian jets entered Pakistan to drop bombs after the 1971 war.
The air strike was followed by an air combat between the air forces of the two countries on February 27 when Pakistani jet planes entered India.
MEA said a strong protest had been lodged with the chief of affairs of the Pakistani High Commission over the activities of its two officials against India’s national security.
The sources said the two officials were handing over Indian money and an iPhone for providing them with the sensitive documents.
They first claimed that they were Indian nationals and even produced fake Aadhaar cards, the sources said.
