India accuses Pakistan of espionage activities, asks to cut diplomatic staff by half

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 23

The Government has asked Pakistan to reduce its staff strength at the High Commission here by 50 per cent within a week on grounds of their involvement in espionage activities.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday summoned the Charge d’Affaires of Pakistan to inform him of the decision and also convey that India, too, would reciprocally reduce its own presence in Islamabad to the same proportion.

Besides the arrest of two Pakistani officials on the grounds of espionage, the MEA also cited cases of intimidation of its employees in Islamabad as another reason for the decision.

The MEA told the Pakistani diplomat that India had repeatedly expressed concern about the activities of officials of his High Commission.

“They have engaged in acts of espionage and maintained dealings with terrorist organisations. The activities of the two officials caught red-handed and expelled on May 31 was one example in that regard,” said an MEA statement.

While their officials indulged in actions that are not in conformity with their status in the High Commission, Pakistan has in parallel engaged in a sustained campaign to intimidate Indian High Commission officials in Islamabad from carrying on their legitimate diplomatic functions.

“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 returned to India on June 22, have provided graphic details of the barbaric treatment that they experienced at the hands of Pakistani agencies,” said the MEA.

It felt that the behaviour of Pakistan and its officials was not in conformity with the Vienna Convention and the 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, the MEA added.