India Downgrades Ties With Pakistan; Asks To Reduce Staff In Delhi High Commission By Half

This development has come a week after the two officials of the Indian High Commission to Pakistan went missing and were reportedly arrested.

Pakistan High Commission building in New Delh. (File Photo/ Getty)

New Delhi: Amid the rough ties going on between the two countries, the government of India on Tuesday asked neighbouring Pakistan to reduce staff strength in the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi by 50 per cent within the next seven days and reciprocally, India will reduce its own presence in Islamabad to the same proportion. In a statement issued today, the Ministry of External Affairs said that Pakistan's Charge d’ Affaires of its High Commission in New Delhi was summoned on Tuesday and informed that India repeatedly expressed concern about activities of espionage by officials of his High Commission. "They've been engaged in espionage and dealings with terrorist organisations." The Ministry cited the instance from May 31 when officials were caught red-handed and expelled. It also recalled the recent abduction of two Indian officials in Islamabad and the "barbaric treatment" meted out to them by Pakistani agencies as reasons for downgrading of the diplomatic ties. A quoted in a PTI reports, the MEA went on to say that, "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." The development comes a week after the two officials of the Indian High Commission to Pakistan went missing and were reportedly arrested. As per the Pakistani Media reports, the two missing officials were arrested by the local police over alleged hit-and-run charges. The reports claimed that the Indian staffers ran over a passerby and attempted to fee when they were arrested by the Islamabad police. On this, India had asked Pakistan not to interrogate or harass Indian officials arrested in Islamabad. "Responsibility of safety and security of Indian personnel in Islamabad lays squarely with Pakistani authorities," sources said. The officials have returned to India and reacting to their rescue, the MEA said that 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 22 June 2020 have provided graphic details of the barbaric treatment that they experienced at the hands of Pakistani agencies," the MEA added. These incidents came weeks after India nabbed two Pakistani spies red-handed and sent them back to Pakistan. Previously, Pakistani elements also chased Indian diplomat Gaurav Ahluwalia on a bike. Ahluwalia was chased and intimidated in Islamabad by motorcycle-borne persons suspected to be from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) on June 4.