Pakistan, India may scale down diplomatic ties

May recall high commissioners, cut down diplomatic staff

NEW DELHI/ ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India may temporarily recall their high commissioners in the wake of the latest diplomatic debacle triggered after the cover of certain officials posted in each other’s capitals was revealed by the two sides through media leaks, officials said on Thursday.

The fresh slide in ties, which have already been at their lowest point since the attack on an Indian military base in Occupied Kashmir in September, may also lead to a 'scaling down' of the strength of diplomatic staff by the two neighbours.



The latest spat started after Indian police last week detained a staff member of Pakistan’s High Commission in New Deli for questioning over espionage charges. Mahmood Akhtar, who was working as a visa officer at the Pakistani High Commission, was later expelled from India.

However, India, using a statement Delhi police extracted from Akhtar through coercive means, implicated other Pakistani staffers. The identities of at least six such officials were leaked to the Indian media, jeopardising their security. The move prompted Pakistan to withdraw them from New Delhi.

In what appeared to be a tit for tat move, Pakistan on Thursday confirmed that eight officials posted in India’s High Commission in Islamabad were agents of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and Intelligence Bureau (IB). The disclosure left New Delhi with no other options but to withdraw the named officials.

An official with knowledge of latest developments squarely blamed India for the escalation in tensions. The official, who requested to speak off the record so that he could talk freely on the subject, told The Express Tribune that India had breached an ‘understanding’ by revealing the identities of certain Pakistani officials posted in New Delhi. The official said both sides knew that certain officials worked under cover and they did so with the full knowledge of host country.



“What India did was unthinkable,” the official added, saying the Indian move would have serious implications for the two countries. He said the immediate fallout of this controversy could be the recalling of high commissioners by the two countries for the time being.

The official said another implication might be ‘cutting down’ the size of diplomatic staff posted in each other’s countries till the situation normalised.

Meanwhile, speaking at his weekly news briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria confirmed that eight Indian staff members of the country’s high commission belonged to RAW and IB.

They were identified as Rajesh Kumar Agnihotir, commerical counselor and RAW station chief, Anurag Singh, first commercial secretary, Amerdeep Singh Bhatti, attache visa, Dharmendra Sodhi, staff member, Vijay Kumar Verma, staff, Madhavan Nanda Kumar, staff, Balbir Singh, first secretary press and information, IB station chief and Jayabalan Senthil, assistant personnel welfare officer.

Zakaria said they had been found involved in coordinating terrorist and subversive activities in Pakistan under the garb of diplomatic assignments.

The detailed chargesheet against them includes espionage, subversion and supporting of terrorist activities in Balochistan and Sindh, especially in Karachi, sabotaging CPEC, creating unrest in G-B, expanding network of their operatives under the garb of commercial activities, leveraging their position as diplomats for ingress into influential circles to gather inside information, damaging Pakistan-Afghanistan relations with a variety of activities,  infiltrating Indian agents into social, media and political circles for propaganda purposes and activities detrimental to Pakistan’s interests, fabricating evidences to portray Pakistan as a state sponsor of terrorism, handling factions of TTP, instigating religious minorities, fueling sectarianism and maligning Pakistan with propaganda on human rights issues, carrying out activities in AJK detrimental to the Kashmir cause and misleading international community about indigenous movement for self-determination in IOK.

“We are disappointed that India has not only been found involved in promoting terrorist activities and terror financing as was disclosed by Kulbhushan Yadav and further confirmed by the statements at the highest political level on August 15and earlier during visit to Dhaka, but India has also been using its diplomatic mission for its nefarious designs,” Zakaria regretted.



The spokesperson said India had violated the diplomatic norms and code of conduct of maintaining relations between two sovereign states. “Whereas, Pakistan has pursued a policy of restraint, patience and sobriety which has been appreciated world over. A number of countries have expressed their appreciation of this policy,” he maintained.

The spokesperson said India deliberately released the names of six other diplomats and diplomatic staff falsely accusing them, which endangered their families’ lives and that of their own.  “They were unable to perform their diplomatic duties while their families were harassed. Consequently, we had to recall them for their safety,” he told reporters.

Terming the Indian move as highly regrettable, he said such acts were also part of their desperation to divert World’s attention from atrocities in IOK.

Meanwhile, Indian foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup on Thursday rejected allegations against Indian high commission officials. He also denied Indian forces were carrying out ceasefire violations along the Line of Control and working boundary.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2016.