Diplomatic reciprocals

Both India and Pakistan have a long history of reciprocal mutual expulsions

As is ever the case reports that the Indians are expelling a consular official based in Delhi require considerably more detail before the full facts of the case are known. It is alleged that he was engaged in ‘espionage activities’ and the Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar summoned the Pakistan high commissioner to tell him so, adding that the man had 48 hours to leave the country. He is named as Mehmood Akhtar and he was briefly detained by Indian security agencies on Wednesday 26th October. He is said to work in the visa section of the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi and at the time of his detention outside the Delhi zoo he is alleged to have been in possession of forged documents, defence related maps, deployment charts and lists of officers deployed along India’s border with Pakistan. It is alleged that Mehmood Akhtar was arrested as he met two men who he had allegedly recruited to spy for him. Within 24 hours Pakistan announced the expulsion of an Indian diplomat for activities ‘contrary to diplomatic norms.’

Both countries have a long history of reciprocal mutual expulsions and the entire incident is strongly reminiscent of the days of the Cold War between western nations and the Soviet Union, when both sides played one another off in terms of espionage.

The difference today is that the conflict between India and Pakistan is currently set to a high heat, with exchanges of fire across the Line of Control and the Working Boundary. Indian soldiers have recently allegedly died in the conflict, as have Pakistani troops and civilians in the near past. Fatalities and live firing were exceedingly rare in the Cold War, but increasingly common in the protracted hostilities currently playing out on our eastern borders. This latest diplomatic incident must not be used by India to up the ante, and Pakistan would be well advised to stick to its line of constructive restraint. Cool heads must prevail and pragmatic statesmanship be to the fore on the part of both our leaders and the diplomatic services.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2016.

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