Islamabad: Marking a sharp downturn in ties, India on Thursday asked a junior Pakistani diplomat to leave by Saturday for running a spy ring. Pakistan retaliated with a similar move, asking an Indian official in Islamabad to leave.
Hours after Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit in New Delhi to protest against Mehmood Akhtar, a visa officer at the Pakistan High Commission, who India accused of spying, Islamabad hit back. In the evening, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry summoned Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale in Islamabad and declared Indian High Commission official Surjeet Singh as persona non grata and asked that he leave the country by Saturday, October 29.
The Foreign Secretary also expressed “deep concern” over the activities of the Indian official, which he said, was in violation of the Vienna Convention and the established diplomatic norms. The Indian High Commission was asked to make necessary arrangements to make Surjeet Singh and his family leave Pakistan by October 29.
Pakistan denied the espionage charges levelled against Akhtar as “false and unsubstantiated”, and alleged that Indian police “manhandled” him.
The move comes hours after Indian authorities detained a Pakistani High Commission official, Mehmood Akhtar, in New Delhi on charges of running a spy network. The Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar summoned the Pakistani envoy Abdul Basit and asked that Akhtar, a visa officer, be sent back within 48 hours.
