New Delhi, Aug 05: In further downturn in
bilateral ties, India and Pakistan on Saturday expelled each other's
diplomat in a tit for tat action after Islamabad handcuffed
and detained a senior Indian High Commission official and
asked him to leave the country by Monday.
India retaliates
Retaliating swiftly to the "outrageous treatment"
meted out to Deepak Kaul, Counsellor (Visa), by the Pakistani
authorities, India declared Syed Muhammad Rafique Ahmed,
Counsellor (Political) at the Pakistan High Commission in New
Delhi, persona non grata and asked him to leave the country
within 48 hours.
Pak Dy High Commissioner summoned
Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner Afra Siab was
summoned to the External Affairs Ministry and a strong protest
was lodged by Joint Secretary Dilip Sinha against the "blatant
violation" of diplomatic norms.
"Such action could not but undermine the bilateral
relations between the two countries," a statement issued by
the MEA said.
MEA denies charges
It categorically rejected Pakistan's charge that Kaul
was engaged in activities incompatible with his diplomatic
status, a euphemism for spying, and denied that sensitive
documents were handed over to him by a "so called contact."
A group of about eight to nine people pounced on Kaul
when he was having tea at a kiosk on Islamabad-Lahore highway
at 7:30 am IST while on his way to Wagah border to receive his
family, officials at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad
said.
"He was stopped by Pakistani security agencies and
taken, hooded and handcuffed to some unidentified location
where he was interrogated intermittently for about five hours,"
MEA spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters.
Kaul was later handed over to Indian diplomats who were
summoned to the Pakistan Foreign Office.
This is the first incident of reciprocal expulsion of
senior diplomats by the two countries since the peace process
began three years ago.
"We have evidence of his undesirable activities,"
Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam claimed
without elaborating.
No possession of sensitive documents
Rejecting Pakistan's allegation that Kaul was involved in
activities incompatible with his diplomatic status, Sarna said
the documents claimed to have been recovered from him "must
have obviously been planted on him in order to falsely
implicate him".
He insisted that the officer was "not in possession of
any sensitive documents allegedly handed over to him by a
so-called contact."
Violation of the Vienna Convention
New Delhi said the Pakistani action was in "blatant
violation of the Vienna Convention as well as the Code of Conduct for treatment of diplomatic/consular personnel in
India and Pakistan, 1992.
Sarna said Kaul is safe and the Indian High Commission is
arranging for his return to India by Monday.
Ahmed declared persona non grata
Ahmed was declared persona non grata has he was found
involved in "activities incompatible with his diplomatic
status", Sarna said, adding he has been asked to leave by
Monday.
Previous expulsions
The last such incident of expulsion of diplomats between
the two countries was in February 2003 when India sent home
Pakistan's then charge d'affairs Jalil Abbas Jilani and four
other diplomats after allegedly finding them involved in
financing separatists in Jammu and Kashmir.
Pakistan also retaliated by expelling the same number of
Indian diplomats.
Bureau Report