Diplomatic dispute

Given that Raymond Davis incident is still alive in public memory, Pakistan was just acting cautiously, not illegally

Islamabad and New Dehli have gone back to tit-for-tat ejections of diplomats. After India said it would cut the staff strength allowed for the Pakistani High Commission in the Indian capital within a week, Islamabad promised to respond in kind. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi defended the conduct of Pakistani diplomats while accusing Indian diplomats of indulging in illegal activities. He reportedly accused India of making an “illegal” and “provocative” move to cover up New Delhi’s domestic and international failures.

We may add that the move is mostly for domestic audiences, given that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi accidentally admitted that India has lost control of land when he said “no Chinese troops entered Indian territory”. This implies that the Indian soldiers who died were on Chinese soil. Meanwhile, Russia — a close Indian ally — is apparently not interested in intervening on India’s behalf. With pressure rising, Modi’s only face-saving option, as we have previously discussed in these columns, is to change the news cycle.

The diplomatic dispute has multiple angles. On May 31, India expelled two Pakistani officials on allegations of spying, although the evidence presented even in the most compliant of Indian media was flimsy at best. Then there was the incident of Indian diplomats being held after a hit-and-run incident in Islamabad. India claims Pakistan violated diplomatic norms, but never tried to explain why the two men were held in the first place or acknowledge that they were allowed to leave the police station after their diplomatic credentials were checked out.

Given that the Raymond Davis incident is still alive in the public memory, Pakistan was just acting cautiously, not illegally. Yet India began claiming the two reckless drivers were “forcibly abducted” and held for 10 hours. This is why the Foreign Office called out India’s “smear campaign against Pakistan” and noted how India was trying to “distort facts and deny the culpability of these Indian High Commission officials in criminal offences”.

At the end of the day, while the expulsions may not make a huge difference as little diplomatic engagement is taking place these days, such scapegoating sets a terrible precedent.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2020.

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