ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI: In a tit-for-tat move, Pakistan on Thursday declared an Indian High Commission official as persona non-grata and asked him to leave the country within 48 hours.
The decision comes hours after New Delhi announced it was expelling a Pakistani visa official for suspected spying.
The expulsions come as tensions between the two neighbours are running high over their disputed territory of Kashmir.
Police in New Delhi alleged the Pakistani official had been recruiting Indian nationals for two and a half years to spy for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in return for cash.
“Delhi police crime branch has busted an espionage racket run by a kingpin working in the Pakistan high commission,” claimed Ravindra Yadav, joint commissioner of police on crime.
The official, named as Mehmood Akhtar, was detained on Wednesday with documents in his possession on Indian troop deployment along the border, Yadav alleged at a press conference in Delhi. Akhtar was later released, he added.
India’s Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar summoned Pakistan’s high commissioner to inform him of the decision to expel the official within 48 hours.
“FS (foreign secretary) summons Pak High Commissioner to convey that Pak High Commission staffer has been declared persona non grata for espionage activities,” Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said on Twitter.
Two other officials, identified as Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir, have also been arrested for allegedly passing on sensitive information to the staff member.
Pakistan’s foreign secretary then summoned the Indian High Commissioner on Thursday night to say Islamabad would also be sending back a diplomat over alleged improper activities.
“The foreign secretary expressed deep concern over the activities of the Indian official that were in violation of the Vienna Convention and the established diplomatic norms,” an official statement said. It named the official as Surjeet Singh and added he and his family would also be required to leave within two days. “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,” a Foreign Office spokesman said.
“The Indian action has been accompanied by an extremely negative and orchestrated media campaign,” Nafees Zakaria told reporters at a function held on the Kashmir ‘black day’. “We condemn the detention and manhandling of our diplomatic official.”
Pakistan’s High Commissioner Abdul Basit lodged a “strong protest” on Thursday with the Indian Foreign Ministry and said the detention of the official contravened diplomatic conventions. He asked the Indian government to ensure that such harassment does not happen in the future and strongly rejected accusations of the Indian government.
“Pakistan never engages in activity that is incompatible with its diplomatic status,” the envoy said. “This act clearly reflects Indian actions to shrink diplomatic space for the working of Pakistan High Commission.”
