New Delhi: India on Tuesday asked Pakistan to reduce their strength in Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi by 50 per cent as their officials have been found to be engaged in spying activities.
On Tuesday, India summoned Pakistan High Commission’s Charge d’ Affaires Syed Haidar Shah and informed him about the government’s decision to reduce the strength of staff.
India also told him that their staffs maintained dealings with terrorist organizations.
New Delhi will also reduce its presence in Islamabad to the same proportion. The decision will be implemented in seven days.
“Charge d’ Affaires of Pakistan was summoned today to the Ministry of External Affairs and informed that India had repeatedly expressed concern about the activities of officials of his High Commission,” the ministry said in a statement.
They have been engaged in acts of espionage and maintained dealings with terrorist organizations, it added.
On May 31, two officials of Pakistan High Commission were caught red-handed and expelled in espionage case.
“While their officials indulged in actions that are not in conformity with their privileged status in the High Commission, Pakistan has in parallel engaged in a sustained campaign to intimidate the officials of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad from carrying on their legitimate diplomatic functions,” it added.
The ministry also said that the recent abduction at gunpoint of two Indian officials and their severe ill treatment underlines the extent to which Pakistan has gone in that direction.
These officials who have returned to India on June 22 have provided graphic details of the barbaric treatment that they experienced at the hands of Pakistani agencies.
The behaviour of Pakistan and its officials is not in conformity with the Vienna Convention and bilateral agreements on the treatment of diplomatic and consular officials. On the contrary, it is an intrinsic element of a larger policy of supporting cross-border violence and terrorism, it said.
